This tiny pocket springs has been called Jonathan, Bathtub, Sittin’, and Mermaid. It is the first spring within the Gilchrist Blue sub-basin, proceeding Rum Island Spring.
It is a 3rd magnitude spring in Columbia County in the Santa Fe River basin. Two sand boils are located on the pool bottom at a depth of 1.5 ft . The pool has a sand bottom, and the shallow spring run is 10 ft wide and flows 35 ft into the Santa Fe River. The bottom of the run consists of sharp karst.
All springs within the Devil’s Eye Basin are impaired by high Nitrate-N levels measuring a median of 1.85 mg/L when the safe level is .35 mg/L requiring a minimal 73% reduction in Total Maximum Daily Load, TMDL.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
- Reduce water usage in home and on landscape
- Minimize fertilizer use: don’t apply during rainy periods.
- Maintain Septic tank: pump out every 10 yrs or upgrade
Additional springs in the Gilchrist Blue sub-basin include:
- Jonathan Spring (Columbia) is a 3rd magnitude spring in Columbia County in the Santa Fe River basin.
- Col101974
- Col101975
- Rum Island Rum Island Spring (Columbia) is a 2nd magnitude spring in Columbia County in the Blue Spring (Gilchrist County) basin.
- Johnson Spring (Gilchrist) is a 3rd magnitude spring in Gilchrist County in the Blue Spring (Gilchrist County) basin.
- Gilchrist Blue Spring (Gilchrist) is a 2nd magnitude spring in Gilchrist County in the Blue Spring (Gilchrist County) basin.
- Naked Spring (Gilchrist) is a 4th or higher magnitude spring in Gilchrist County in the Blue Spring (Gilchrist County) basin.
- Little Blue Spring (Gilchrist) is a 4th or higher magnitude spring in Gilchrist County in the Blue Spring (Gilchrist County) basin.
To learn more read:
BLUEPRINT FOR RESTORING SPRINGS ON THE SANTA FE RIVER, Florida Springs Institute, 2021, https://floridaspringsinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Santa-Fe-River-and-Springs-Restoration-Blueprint-01_27_21.pdf
Draft Santa Fe River Basin Management Action Plan, April 2025, https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/250410_SAFE_BMAPUpdateMeetingMaterials.pdf
Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers MFL Status | Suwannee River Water Management District, SRWMD, 2022, accessed May, 2025, https://www.mysuwanneeriver.com/DocumentCenter/View/18580/LSFI_Status_Assessment-2022-final?bidId=
REGIONAL AND STATEWIDE TRENDS IN FLORIDA’S SPRING AND WELL GROUNDWATER QUALITY (1991-2003), STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, Rick Copeland, Neal A. Doran, Aaron J. White, and Sam B. Upchurch, 2011 , https://web.archive.org/web/20210526060040id_/http://publicfiles.dep.state.fl.us/FGS/FGS_Publications/B/B69rev_2011.pdf, accessed online May 4, 2025.
RUTH B. KIRBY GILCHRIST BLUE SPRINGS STATE PARK, Suwannee River Planning Region, https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/Gilchrist%20Blue%20Chapter%20AG%20Draft.pdf
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