Robert Knight:
"Springs protection is not just about protecting fish and wildlife habitat and popular crystal clear swimming holes from overgrowth by filamentous algae - it is mostly about protecting our underground aquifer.
In pristine areas of Florida, nitrate nitrogen concentrations in the Floridan aquifer are about 10 to 20 parts per billion (ppb). In Silver and Rainbow springs the groundwater contains from 1,200 to 1,800 ppb of nitrate (elevated over the natural background by more than 6,000%). In Fanning Springs, located between the Suwannee River and a large agricultural area dominated by massive center-pivot crop circles and dairy farms, the average nitrate concentration is over 7,000 ppb - an increase of about 35,000% above the historic aquifer nitrate concentration.
Senator Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, introduced his Springs Protection Act (Senate Bill 274) at the beginning of the current session in a valiant attempt to solve this nitrate contamination issue."
