A Few More Things You Didn’t Know About Florida Springs
By Lucinda Faulkner Merritt
The document you see above is intended to convince Floridians that everything is fine and dandy and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is actually protecting our freshwater springs.
Don’t be fooled.
“Thirty percent of the nation’s water quality data comes from Florida—that’s more than double the next highest state.”
Don’t confuse the fact that Florida has lots of water quality data with actual water quality! What that data tells us is that water quality in Florida is nothing to brag about. What DEP doesn’t tell you is that 24 of 30 Outstanding Florida Springs (that’s 80 percent) are impaired by nutrient pollution. Consider that along with the facts that Florida tops the list for the most polluted lakes in the United States and water pollution has killed sea grass beds in the Indian River Lagoon, causing manatees to starve to death, and you get a more accurate picture of water quality in Florida than what DEP would have you believe.
“The Florida Department of Environmental Protection employs nearly 3,000 dedicated and knowledgeable staff, including biologists, geologists, chemists and other scientists and professionals who work tirelessly to protect Florida’s springs and natural resources so future Floridians can continue to enjoy them.”
Again, don’t confuse the numbers of people who are working at DEP with positive results for our springs! Long-term trends at our springs show declining spring flows and increasing pollution levels. Lack of political will to make tough choices and needed changes in the ways we are living with water is a far greater determinant of conditions in our springs than the numbers of people who work at DEP.
“Since 2011, approximately $360 million has been invested in protecting and preserving Florida’s springs through DEP and matching water management district and local funds, the highest amount of funding in Florida’s history.”
Again, don’t confuse spending with results! To cite just one example, the Ichetucknee was designated in 2015 by the State of Florida as being “in recovery”—meaning a plan must be created to restore lost flow—but we have seen no proof of results. The Santa Fe River was also designated as being “in recovery” at that same time, but that didn’t stop the Suwannee River Water Management District from giving a large water use permit to a bottling plant near a spring along the Santa Fe.
According to the Florida Springs Council’s 2021-2022 Springs Funding Report, “…at the current rate of nitrogen reduction…claimed for the 2021-2022 springs projects, it will take 217 years to achieve Outstanding Florida Springs water quality goals” (p. 2). The Council also found that “The springs restoration projects…for 2021-2022 funding are projected to remove one pound of nitrogen per year for every $2,757 spent…It is 620 times more expensive to remove one lb. of nitrogen than it is to purchase it in the first place” (p. 3).
Read that last sentence again because it makes an important point. By not limiting the amount of pollution that reaches the Floridan aquifer, and by not limiting the amount of water that is withdrawn from that aquifer that feeds our springs (and provides our drinking water), the Florida Department of Environmental Protection forces itself to use taxpayer money to try to fix problems that the Department’s own inaction, and the inaction of the water management districts, has caused! This is a massive transfer of public money into private pockets, with ineffective results.
Why are those results ineffective? Because “approximately 70% of all addressable nutrient pollution to Outstanding Florida Springs comes from agricultural pollution. However…only 4% of springs restoration funding is targeted towards reducing or preventing agricultural pollution” (FSC 2021-2022 Springs Funding Report, p. 4).
Shouldn’t DEP and our water management districts be protecting our springs first before trying to fix problems later?