Newsletters: March - April 2008
Wakulla Springs
Still Sick but Getting Treatment
Natural Times-March/April 2008
By Crystal Wakoa
On a cold December morning in 2007, two cold and hungry divers with the Wakulla Karst Plain Project emerged from their world record-setting dive that connected the Leon Sinks cave system with Wakulla Springs. A group of manatees appeared in the spring bowl just before the divers, as if to join with the crowd on the bank in welcoming the divers and applauding their feat. Manatees have never before over-wintered at Wakulla Springs, and park staff can't explain their prolonged presence this year.
Some things we know. Some things we don't. But as we connect the dots between what goes on in Tallahassee and the health of Wakulla Springs, the knowledge of our interconnectedness becomes harder and harder to deny.
What is the health of Wakulla Springs these days? If we took her temperature, she would still be running a high fever. She remains challenged by high nitrate levels that cause rapid growth of invasive hydrilla, yearly herbicide treatment by park staff to knock it back, proliferation of bad algae that, along with the hydrilla, suck oxygen from the water—which chases the bass population elsewhere, fewer gallinules and night herons, and still not enough apple snails to lure the limpkin back. Wakulla Springs’ health is still ranked in the lowest 20 percent of all Florida rivers.
And yet there is cause for great hope. We know where the nitrate pollution is coming from, and we are beginning to take responsibility for reducing it so that Wakulla Springs will have a chance to thrive again.
The Springs' biggest polluter is the City of Tallahassee's wastewater treatment facilities. Treated wastewater (effluent) from the sewage treatment plants is piped to the sprayfield farm on Tram Road. The nitrate-laden effluent is sprayed on crops that are meant to absorb the nitrogen, but too much of it seeps into the porous soil, entering limestone conduits that lead to Wakulla Springs. It took a lawsuit to get the City to step up to the plate and take responsibility. Step up it has committing to upgrade its treatment plants to advanced wastewater treatment (AWT) in six years, which will drastically reduce the concentration of nitrates in the effluent—a huge victory for all of us fighting for the restoration of Wakulla Springs.
The second largest polluter of Wakulla Springs is septic tanks, which also leak nitrates into the soil. With 30,000 septic tanks in Leon County, 10,000 in Wakulla County and the population climbing, septic tanks could become the Springs' leading cause of nitrate pollution in years to come, should business as usual prevail. But there is good news on this front, too. As of mid-2007, all new Wakulla County development not on the central sewage system must install performance-based (i.e., nitrate reducing) septic systems. In addition, any older, standard septic tank that fails must be replaced with the performance-based system. Leon County is not far behind—county officials are considering requiring those same advanced septic tanks in the southern part of Leon County.
Tallahassee sits uphill from Wakulla Springs. It is now well documented that Munson Slough, into which all of Tallahassee's drainage ditches flow, itself drains to Wakulla Springs, making storm water runoff a third significant contributor to the degradation of Wakulla Springs. In response to this, Leon County continues to build more storm water retention ponds, which reduce the toxicity of the runoff. The Department of Transportation eliminated all fertilizer application (218 tons per year!) on roadsides within the Wakulla Springs basin. And the Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department has developed a set of pollution-reducing recommendations in their Comprehensive Plan, that will strengthen protective measures for the Springs.
All of these recent developments that hold out so much hope have come about as the result of scientists, environmental organizations, non-profits, local and state governments, activists, and our local newspaper coming together, sharing information, raising awareness, and applying pressure where needed to highlight the plight of Wakulla Springs and hammer out solutions. The cooperation and concern of so many diverse groups of people to protect and restore Wakulla Springs is a testament to the intrinsic value Wakulla Springs holds for us as a community.
But there's a catch to all this good news, a hitch in the hope that, even with all the changes, Wakulla Springs will be restored to her former pristine glory. The population of our region is projected to double in the next 40 years. All the newcomers will need to flush their toilets, just like we do. The sheer volume of effluent the City will need to dispose of, and the radical rise in the number of septic systems, could negate the effects of the advanced technologies. Conservation is key in this regard. It will take all of us doing our part by installing water-saving toilets, as well as water-saving washing machines, and conserving water in all of our activities. It will take a willingness to let go of picture-perfect lawns that require fertilizers and pesticides and to take pride instead in Florida-friendly landscaping. It will take an awareness of our interconnectedness with our water supply, our springs, rivers, bays and estuaries, and a personal commitment to lighten our load on them.
For inspiration, take a drive to Wakulla Springs. Climb to the top of the diving platform where you have a good chance of seeing a pod of manatees—ten in all, including two calves. We may not know why they're taking up winter residence here, but we know that their fate and the fate of Wakulla Springs depend entirely on us.
