Problems of Ground‐Water Supply in Florida

Abstract

Florida has an abundant water supply, from both surface and underground sources, as is shown by the presence of hundreds of lakes, large springs, wells of large yield, and, in some localities, wells that flow naturally. Several well-known springs, including Silver Spring and Blue Spring, are among the largest in the United States. The measured flow of Silver Spring has been as much as 822 second-feet.3 The measured flow of the Silver River, which is formed by the discharge of this and other springs, has ranged from 674 to 1,170 second-feet. The larger quantity is more than half a million gallons a minute, or more than 720 million gallons a day, a quantity sufficient to supply a city the size of New York. The largest springs in Florida are rivaled in size and spectacular features probably only by springs flowing from volcanic rocks in certain states of the Northwest. One of the most striking series of such springs are the Thousand Springs,