The following was provided by OSFR board member Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson. This meeting will take place on Friday September 8, 2023 at the Florida Springs Institute in High Springs at 11:30 am.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
If it hadn’t been for the visitors at Ruth B. Kilby Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park on one particular Saturday in the middle of the afternoon on a sweltering summer day, would we even think this could happen? Even eyewitness reports were unclear as to what they were witnessing before them. Kids that were swimming with masks in the main spring vent at Gilchrist Blue Springs came out of the water to say, “the water got dusty.”
Reports were not expedient like other unusual occurrences on this beloved jewel of a river, as nothing like this had ever been seen before in a spring vent. Is this common? Is it just because more eyes are on the springs and therefor witnessed like a tree falling in the woods? Or, is this the beginning of the end of a spring?
That auspicious day, springs-goers spoke of cloudy water, murky, and silting in an upheaval of water discharge that resembled a belching spring. Within an instant, after dropping down a foot, the water levels rose dramatically.
Members of Our Santa Fe River, Inc. have concerns and we need answers from experts who have spent a better part of their lives understanding hydrogeology in the North Central Florida river basin. The Floridan aquifer is a unique freshwater system that makes up the water supply for our Florida springs and for our city and well water supplies. Please join us for an afternoon with leading experts who have studied this unusual occurrence at Gilchrist Blue.
Jim Gross, a professional geologist with 38 years of experience in water resources will be presenting his understanding of this complex hydrogeology.
Bill Hawthorne, Aquatic Ecologist with the Florida Springs Institute, will be presenting the findings of the Florida Springs Institute.
Gregory Owens, Alachua County Senior Environmental Specialist will also speak.
Here is a link to the actual report produced by Florida Springs Institute.
Learn with others the meaning of harm to a protected waterway. What is harm to our water resources? When is too much stress on our freshwater supply too much? Are we capable of being good neighbors that live and work within the Santa Fe River basin to the actual Santa Fe River itself and its springs? Which springs on the Santa Fe River will fail first? Has this horse already left the barn? How do we know if there is harm from pumping nearly one million gallons per day from Ginnie Springs which is connected to Gilchrist Blue?
