Speak Up for Silver Springs and Florida's Waters event promotes protection of Florida's imperiled waterways

06/22/12 Olivia Kabat
WMNF Drive-Time News Friday |

Hillsborough River State Park.

photo by Se?n Kinane/WMNF (Jan. 2011)

Florida?s springs, rivers and other waterways are threatened by pollution and low water flow. On Saturday former Governor Bob Graham will be at Silver River State Park near Ocala to warn the public about this statewide problem.

The Speak Up for Silver Springs and Florida?s Waters event will feature speeches from Florida Conservation Coalition leaders, nature exhibits, outdoor activities and live music. Robert Knight, director of the Florida Springs Institute, says public awareness is crucial to protect Florida waters.

?We have seriously declining water flows in all of our springs and our rivers. Silver Springs is a good example of that problem. We also have rising nitrogen levels, nitrate in our ground water which is causing water quality problems in our springs, once again Silver Springs is a good example of that. So it?s an opportunity to raise awareness to these issues and to try to demand attention to these problems from our state agencies.?

Knight says there are many ways the pubic can get involved to restore imperiled waters in Florida.

?The simplest things are to cutback on landscape irrigation or to eliminate it and to cut back on the use of fertilizers or to eliminate fertilizer use completely. Those are things the public can do. We need industry and agriculture to do the same things and they need to set a better example for the public so that they public feels that they can make a meaningful change in concert by what?s being done by these other industries that are using a large part of our water and resulting in a lot of our water contamination issues.?

The Speak Up for Silver Springs and Florida?s Waters event will be held on Saturday at Silver River State park in Ocala beginning at 10 a.m.

Florida Conservation Coalition

Silver River Museum

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