Yet algae still blooms and the pressure to pump more water from spring basins remains. In summer 2020, Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s Clean Waterways Act, which is aimed at correcting some of the worst water pollution in the state, including in the springs. It created a series of basin management plans to improve water quality in the springs by reducing nitrogen pollution from agricultural runoff and sewage leakage. In 2016, the legislature chose 30 “outstanding” springs for additional protection and restoration. The state of Florida has taken steps to protect the springs. State efforts to protect the springs are ineffective Right: Eelgrass lines the bottom of the Rainbow River in central Florida, southwest of Ocala. The long-running mermaid shows at Weeki Wachee Springs, which date to 1947, became so beloved by crowds that even after the state of Florida acquired the springs and turned the area into a state park, the mermaid shows have continued, making Florida the only state in the nation with mermaids on the state payroll. Today, hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the springs, where the average water temperature is 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Eventually, Hollywood came calling, drawn by the crystal clear water, so perfect for filming television shows like Sea Hunt and movies like the 1954 horror hit Creature from the Black Lagoon. By the late 1800s, the springs were so well known they had become a tourist attraction, marketed to northerners for their healing properties. Ponce de León gets the credit-whether deserved or not-for “discovering” them in 1513 on his failed quest to find the Fountain of Youth. The springs have existed for millennia and were used as a water source by Indigenous people. One of Florida’s most popular tourist attractions The white sand floors of many springs are now covered over with algae blooms that grow in thick green mats and suffocate the eel grass-the primary food source for manatees that overwinter in the warm-water springs and the foundation of a healthy spring ecosystem.

In addition, nutrients in fertilizers have upended the springs’ natural balance, allowing algae to take over. Sea level rise, which raises the level of the water table, increases the risk of saltwater intrusion into fresh groundwater and can eventually cause springs to stagnate. Today, many of the previously clear blue waters have turned murky, and daily gushers have slowed to a trickle, thanks to over-pumping of the aquifer. The best known are 33 ' first magnitude springs,' each of which produces almost 65 million gallons of freshwater daily. More than 1,000 of these springs are spread across central and northern Florida, in the densest concentration of freshwater springs in the world.

Life quest little river