Ichetucknee River In The Media
Comprehensive meeting on Ichetucknee Springs set for end of month
By JUSTIN LANG jlang@lakecityreporter.com
Saturday, May 14, 2005 10:42 PM EDT
Members of the Ichetucknee Springs Basin Working Group and local officials will soon meet in Lake City to discuss issues surrounding the springs system from top to bottom, above ground and below.
But instead of a typical two-hour affair leading to only more questions - with no solutions proposed - the May 24 meeting is scheduled to be an all-day, all-inclusive look at the world famous springs system and the expansive water shed that feeds it.
To be held at the Columbia County Emergency Operations Center off Lake City Avenue (off U.S. 90 West, west of Interstate 75), the meeting is scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with an hour lunch break included.
"The intent is to protect the waters flowing to Ichetucknee Springs," said Jim Stevenson, coordinator of the working group. "The idea is to learn everything we can about how the water moves through the aquifer and on to the Ichetucknee ... to identify problems, and seek solutions to overcome those threats."
Loye Barnard, a member of the working group, said the meeting is not intended just for environmental interests, but it's important that local officials attend and better understand issues surrounding the entire county's groundwater systems.
"That's who we really need to see at this next meeting," she said. "They've got to realize they are an integral part of this, that it is connecting all of us in the area."
During the past year, the impact of heavy rain from two major storms and the development of sinkholes in Columbia County have highlighted how the underground water systems in the area are connected.
Though the flooding and sinkholes opening damaged numerous properties, Barnard said it has also served to bring attention to the unique geology of North Florida and Columbia County, as well as how fragile it all is.
"At any time, we can have something like this happen, and it's been this way since the beginning of time," she said.
Barnard said the working group would also like to have real estate interests attend the meeting on May 24, in hopes they will consider the natural systems before developing land without accounting for the impact it may have on the water and animals that naturally exist there.
Stevenson will lead the meeting, but several local officials and area environmental interests will be making presentations on different issues surrounding the Ichetucknee Springs' system.
For local government, Lake City Manager Joe Cone and Columbia County Manager Dale Williams will present information about what their respective bodies of government are doing to address impact on the Ichetucknee's above and below ground waterways.
The quality of the water and springs, which has become a topic of concern as recent studies have shown it's affected by sinkholes and underground water systems in the Lake City area, will also be addressed by Sam Cole of the Ichetucknee Springs State Park staff.
In addition to the springs system itself, an overview of the several sinkholes that formed off Pinemount Road (mainly in March) will be discussed by Jerry Murphy with local diving equipment outfitter and manufacturer Dive Rite.
The sinkholes are believed to be a part of the same underground water system that feeds the Ichetucknee and are within the springs system's basin South and Southwest of Lake City.
As those sinkholes opened, the contamination of wells in that area and the location has helped to indicate how and where the water flows underground in the Pinemount Road area. Mark Lander, environmental health director for the Columbia County Health Department, will be present at the meeting to discuss the subject further and the current quality of well water in that area.
In the past few years, dye trace studies (pouring a colored dye into a water-filled sinkhole to see where the water flows) have helped environmental concerns better understand how water flows through an underground system that begins near Lake City before eventually reaching the Ichetucknee.
Though Cannon Sink, off State Road 47 where it joins with Cannon Creek, is some 15-20 miles north of the Ichetucknee, it is one of the sinkholes inextricably linked to the springs. At the meeting, Pete Butt of Karst Environmental Services will present an update on the dye trace studies at various sinks in the Ichetucknee system, including Cannon Sink.
The city's sprayfield off County Roads 242 and 349 is used to dispose treated effluent from the city's wastewater plant. But with the land being in the Ichetucknee basin and because a sinkhole is on the property, along with a creek adjacent, concern has risen on whether the effluent spray and its nitrogen content is harming the water quality of the springs system.
Brian Katz with the U.S. Geological Survey will be at the meeting to address that issue and present information about a "geochemical" trace study, looking at how the effluent may reach the sinks of the sprayfield property and its possible effect on the Ichetucknee.
