For the Love Of Nature, Art and Bad Humor
A Comic Gallery of Creative Expression in the Pursuit of Knowledge
Problem # 1
Water Flow Levels
Springs and rivers may seem all carefree and go-with-the-flow,
but even they have standards. Like, for real. They have measurable flow rates, usually calculated as the volume of water moving
per foot per second. Like a speedometer, but for nature.
Each spring or river has a specific flow range considered safe,
known as Minimum Flows and Levels, or MFLs. These benchmarks help ensure that water bodies remain healthy and sustainable.
It's basically the river system's 'do not dip below this line' rule.
The bare-minimum combo of flow rate, depth, and duration needed to keep wetlands and aquatic ecosystems thriving. Algae, plants, invertebrates, fish, birds, and mammals all count on stable MFLs.
Regulatory agencies are tasked with monitoring these flows
and ensuring groundwater pumping and other disruptions
don’t push levels below the safe MFLs.
It helps keep rivers from turning into sad puddles with
fish side-eyeing us in judgment.
In 2016 a law was enacted requiring Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection to protect springs by preventing groundwater withdrawals that could cause harm.
However, the current regulations are falling short.
Despite the river’s legal protections, significant damage is already occurring. Habitat loss has reached 15%, and the health of the
springs continues to decline.
About 2 million people live within 30 miles of the Wekiva River system, and Orlando is growing faster than a rumor at a family barbecue.
New neighborhoods are popping up like mushrooms after a summer rain, except these come with sprinklers and a surge in permits for more groundwater withdrawals. As a result, water is being pumped from the Floridan Aquifer faster than it can naturally recharge, currently at a rate 40% higher than what the aquifer can sustainably handle. This overuse has caused water levels in nearby lakes, springs, and wetlands to drop to historic lows.
Fish, manatees, shrimp, and countless plant species rely on a consistent flow of water for their food sources and habitat.
The whole entire wetland ecosystem does. But despite this, we keep handing out new groundwater permits like free samples at Costco.
The permits are being used to support new agriculture, landscape irrigation, commercial operations, industrial use, and massive neighborhoods named after the very nature they’re replacing.
Fresh water is always in demand, but we're draining more than the aquifer can handle. New permits are in addition to the existing ones for golf courses, businesses, neighborhoods, malls, lawns, livestock, crops, and theme parks. We also drink this stuff, cook with it, bathe with it, and make ice for our hurricane coolers and cocktails. Soon we won't have any ice left for our hurricane cocktails.
On top of the pumping, new development also brings excess nutrients, pesticides, and other pollutants that seep through the ground and into the aquifer. As the water supply shrinks, those pollutants become more concentrated.
Paved surfaces like houses, driveways, roads, and shopping centers make it harder for rain to soak back into the ground, cutting off the aquifer’s natural recharge, worsening the cycle that harms the springs, the wildlife that depend on them, and ultimately, us.
Recovery plans are in the works to restore healthy Minimum Flows and Levels (MFLs), but under state law, that process can take
up to 20 years! Meanwhile, groundwater pumping continues. The concern is that if action isn’t taken sooner, the damage could become irreversible, leaving little or nothing left to recover in two decades. Leaving us drained, emotionally and hydrologically.
In the not so distant future:
