Manatee Springs 9-19-2015

[twaldo]

What is up with Manatee? The basin has been super trashy lately. Today it MIGHT have been 20' vis and a month ago it was worse. Does this carry over into the cave as well?

Just curious,

Tim

[shellmoundal]

Last time I dove it the alga was so thick in the basin. It was clear in the cave system diving upstream. When you say trashy are you speaking of litter or alga? When OW divers go in at Catfish the silt gets pretty bad. I have never seen Manatee any way but clear.

[twaldo]

When I say trashy I GUESS I am referring to algae. Normally you can stand on the stairs and SEE the bottom in the basin. Maybe it has cleaned up between the last two times I have looked at the basin but about a month ago it was WAY worse. I don' think it is tied to Catfish water quality, but maybe? I would on ANY other time in the basin say the viz was 100' + but today if it was 20' I would be shocked.

[WEPIV]

This unfortunately is becoming the new normal and it's what so many have been warning us about. (And illustrated in John Moran's then and now photos.)
If we don't get it together and fast, this will be the "norm" for all Florida springs....

[twaldo]

Sort of why I put it out there... I've NEVER seen it do this (granted only lived here 4 years) it went green back in August (for sure) and hasn't come back... what changed??

Fanning is right down the road... They have to have some of the same watershed....

Is it just algae blooming as it hits the surface? if the Cave hasn't been affected?

[floridabob]

Less than a year ago we had some of the best viz in the cave in the last 10 years.

The basin being fugliest its ever been in 4 years probably indicates

[floridabob]

Nothing.

Every moron in Florida knows the water quality is being destroyed daily. And the good water sold.

Sure hope more people move here and can tell us how to make this place just like Jersey.

Bob

[twaldo]

Ken had some great info... wish he would share it here... or maybe everyone else knows

[Mark Long]

Aside from the algae in the basins of Catfish Hotel and Manatee Springs, what you are seeing is the "normal" condition of the spring. For almost 2 years now we have been having lots of rain. This rainfall has had a predictable effect on the spring. Flow has increased and the visibility has decreased. If you walk out in the park over the top of the cave you will find scores of sinks that for the past 10 years have stayed mostly dry. Now every one of them has standing dark water in them. All this water eventually leaches into the cave over a long period of time causing the "green" color to the water. There is a lot of bacteria in the cave that grows on the walls and the bottom. When the flow is high enough this stuff breaks off and is part of the water column reducing visibility in the cave. This is where the sewer tunnel got its name. Cave divers have known for some time that the best diving in the cave occurs when there is a rapidly rising Suwannee River such as happens when a flood is occurring. This rise in the hydrostatic head of the river suppresses flow from the spring causing the particles to fall out of the water column improving visibility and making it easier to swim/scooter against the flow. That rising river also keeps so much water from leaching from those sinks (when they have standing water) allowing more "blue" groundwater in the system.


The very "best" time to have dove Manatee Spring was during the drought before the past couple of years. Ground water levels were at their lowest so the depths of the cave were shallower. The flow was greatly reduced and the visibility was the best I've ever seen in the cave. I could snorkel straight down to 55ft. depth in the cave at the spring. That's unheard of now! Manatee Spring is considered a first magnitude spring with a flow of 100cfs or greater. There were flow measurements taken at that time that showed 10cfs! I've been going to Manatee Spring since the mid 60's and cave diving there since 1981 so I have a lot of history with that spring.


The algae engulfing Catfish Hotel and the spring run all the way to the river is another story. Manatee Spring "normally" had eel grass from the boil all the way to the river. The run is now 99.9% devoid of any natural sub aquatic vegetation and has been for over 15 years. Fanning Springs also has more than it's share of algae. Fanning has at least 6 dairy's in its springshead. Manatee has a huge agricultural operation just outside the park which farms 365 days a year. I believe the algae in these springs and all the others in the Suwannee basin are caused by small changes in water chemistry caused by all the massive industrial farming that goes on in this area now. From nitrates to phosphates, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, etc. all these contaminants are in this groundwater.


If we continue to have rainfall like we have had for the past 2 years, then what you see is what you'll get at Manatee Spring. Even if we started into another drought (and who knows when that will happen) it would be months for the spring to return to the conditions seen before the past couple years. Hope this "clears" up some information on Manatee Springs.

[twaldo]

SO it just took several months for all the rain fall to actually affect the springs? Because it seems that it JUST went south in the last 3 months and is holding in at just plain bad. Because we have like you said been getting a lot of rain the last 2 years.

Ken also suggested it was all of the industrial farming going on (which I expected him to say) so your saying it just took that long to make it into the Manatee system (16 + months)

Tim