Hornsby Spring

Hornsby Spring (Alachua) is a 2nd magnitude spring on private property in Alachua County and is the namesake of the Hornsby Spring Basin. Designated an Outstanding Florida Spring, OFS, by Florida Statute, Hornsby Spring is currently impaired by elevated nitrate levels and it’s reduced flow renders it a spring in ‘recovery.’ Once a First Magnitude Spring, it stopped flowing in 2003 due to a historic drought.

The property surrounding the springs has been owned by Camp Kulaqua since 1953. Contamination by reduced flow and high nutrients launched Suwannee River Management’s Hornsby Spring Water Quality Improvement Project, redirecting Camp Kulaqua’s on-site wastewater plant and effluent disposal to the City of High Springs wastewater treatment plant. Hornsby Spring also is a direct recipient of surface run-off draining through the Mill Creek Sink in Alachua.

Hornsby, Treehouse and Columbia are legally protected by the 2016 Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act, Florida Statute 373.802. The FL-DEP has not succeeded in enforcing these protections.

The Hornsby Springshed includes six springs : River Rise, Treehouse Spring, Col428981, Darby Spring, Hornsby Spring , and Columbia Springs.

Notable Research:

An investigation of the Darby and Hornsby Springs sites, Alachua County, Florida (FGS: Special publication 7), 1961, Florida Geological Survey.

First Magnitude Springs of Florida, Thomas M. Scott, Guy H. Means,Ryan C. Means, and Rebecca P. Meegan, Florida Geological Survey, 2002

Hornsby Spring, Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute, 2024

Hornsby Spring; A Florida Spring Odyssey, Alachua County, March 2017, Kirsten Work

Hornsby Springs Restoration Project , Greg Owen, Alachua County Environmental Protection Department, 02/16/2023

Mill Creek and Lee Sinks Dye Trace, Alachua County, Fl, July-Dec 2005, Karst Environmental Services, Inc., June, 2006. This Dye-Trace Study establishes the connection between Mill Creek Sink to the Hornsby Springshed.