Florida’s springs are dying: It's time to get off your butts for springs protection
Florida is the Land of a Thousand Springs. Beautiful and healthy springs are among Florida’s most important natural attractions. Crystal clear, sky blue and teaming with fish; cooling in summer, warm enough for manatees in winter; North Florida’s springs are now more endangered than South Florida’s Everglades.
Increasingly dominated by tannic waters, suffering from declining flows, polluted by nutrients, choked with noxious filamentous algae and often overwhelmed by uncontrolled recreation, Florida’s once-pristine springs are a shadow of their past glory and a testament to poor resource management and economic greed.
If you are one of the millions of Florida’s residents who has visited these springs, and if you enjoyed that unforgettable experience, it is time to take action to help save our springs for the future.
More Messages from the Springs Heartland:
Alachua County needs an environmental champion to stop destructive development
North Florida is the natural location for a springs and rivers national park
A wake-up call to local leaders: Lee property should be protected, not developed
Officials not doing their jobs
Public officials pass laws that are intended to ensure clean water and protect our natural environment and are expected to enforce those laws. We pay our taxes so they can reverse the pollution and depletion of the springs allowed by previous administrations. Why should you spend more of your own money and invest your energy to do their job for them?
The sad answer is because they are not doing their job. Ongoing data collection and analysis by the non-profit Florida Springs Institute indicates that despite our government throwing money at these problems, our springs are less healthy every year. Florida’s springs are dying in a single generation primarily due to the greed of for-profit corporations and the politicians they finance.
Vote for the environment
I have a vision for a brighter future for Florida’s springs. That optimistic future requires that we vote for the environment.
Vote because your life and the lives of your children depend on clean water and a healthy world. Vote for candidates who have a track record of working for the public good rather than for the wealth of their corporate donors.
It is easy for political candidates to claim they support clean, healthy springs. But that is often far from the truth. Tallahassee politicians and their appointees to the environmental agencies are not acting on your behalf or for the future health of Florida’s natural waters.
Many of Florida’s most important waterways are dying. From the Everglades to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, and the Indian River Lagoon; to Tampa Bay, the St. Johns, the Suwannee and the Apalachicola rivers; and to North Florida’s priceless springs. Given the inaction of Florida’s existing government to protect our waters, it is time for new strategies and leadership.
Corporate accountability and personal responsibility are both needed to ensure a brighter future for our state. We need to know our taxes are paying for better wastewater cleansing, reduced aquifer depletion and increased protection of public lands that are off-limits to urban or agricultural development.
Last defense against destruction
But we should all do more. Environmental nonprofits statewide are the last defense against the rampant destruction of Florida’s natural environments.
Nonprofits conduct the science, educate the public, defend our waters in court and monitor the politicians. Your financial, volunteer and moral support for these selfless organizations will help prove that a successful economy and healthy waterways can co-exist in Florida.
Our drinking water aquifers and our surface waters are already polluted and depleted due to lax governmental oversight. But don’t be fooled by false claims that we can’t do anything about this tragedy.
We can have jobs, food and clean waters. Our ground and surface waters can be restored and protected in combination with a thriving economy.
If we all play our part to change our defective leadership, our springs, rivers and estuaries will have the chance to heal themselves.
Dr. Robert Knight is founder and director of the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute in High Springs. His career has included 30 years of projects improving water and wastewater quality, six years passing on his knowledge to graduate students at the University of Florida, and 12 years leading efforts to restore and protect Florida’s 1,000-plus artesian springs. His latest book, "Saving Florida’s Springs," provides a prescription for restoring springs health. The Florida Springs Institute (floridaspringsinstitute.org) is a nonprofit that provides unbiased springs science and education. Donations are greatly appreciated.
This column is part of The Sun's Messages from the Springs Heartland series. More pieces from the series can be found at bit.ly/springsheartland.
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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Robert Knight: Your vote is needed to save Florida's natural springs
