1
Protecting Springs in a Changing WorldThrough Sound Science and Policy

Matthew J. Currell1 and Brian G. Katz2

1 School of Engineering, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia

2 Environmental Consultant, Weaverville, North, Carolina, USA

ABSTRACT

For many communities, springs represent, both literally and symbolically, a source of life. Springs have long been sites of spiritual significance for many of the world's Indigenous peoples and remain so today. They figure prominently in stories, songs, fables, and artworks throughout the world's cultures. Sadly, mounting evidence has emerged showing that many of the world's springs are in decline, and numerous springs have either been lost or rendered inactive. With new and emerging pressures created by global climate change and ever-increasing demands to develop water, mineral deposits, and land for economic purposes, the threat of degradation of springs is likely to intensify, leading to significant harm for many people and ecological communities. Carefully developed policies and management plans will thus be needed to safeguard springs and their incalculable values across diverse geological, climatic, and anthropogenic settings. These must be informed by high-quality scientific data collection and analysis programs, extensive community participation, and effective monitoring, reporting, and governance.

1.1. INTRODUCTION

For many communities, springs represent, both literally and symbolically, a source of life. Springs have long been sites of spiritual significance for many of the world's Indigenous peoples and remain so today. They figure prominently in countless stories, songs, fables, and artworks throughout the world's regions and cultures (Ah Chee, 2002; Palmer, 2015; Brake et al., 2019).

Springs are an essential source of water upon which many rare ecological communities depend, including endemic species that would otherwise not exist (e.g., Ponder, 2002; Fensham et al., 2010; Rossini et al., 2020). Their role as refuges for people, plants, and animals in varied and often harsh climates over geologic timescales is well recognized. This is evident in extensive geochemical and archaeological evidence (Hughes & Lampert, 1985; Cuthbert et al., 2017), high levels of endemism in spring biota and associated genetic evidence (e.g., Murphy et al., 2009; Rossini et al., 2018; Fahey et al., 2019), and the stories and songs of many Indigenous people (Ah Chee, 2002; Wangan & Jagalingou Family Council, 2015; Moggridge, 2020). Springs also provide the primary source of drinking water for millions of people worldwide (including many major cities), supply public baths and other tourism sites (e.g., geothermal springs), and provide water for agriculture and industries, such as bottled spring water, throughout the world (Kresic & Stevanovic, 2010). It is hard to overstate the immense value of spring waters to humanity and the global biosphere (Cantonati et al., 2020).

Sadly, mounting evidence has emerged over recent decades showing that many of the world's springs and spring systems are in decline, and numerous springs have either been irreparably lost or rendered inactive (Powell et al., 2015; Powell & Fensham, 2016). Some springs that have been sites of great significance for countless generations recorded in written and oral histories are now sustained only artificially, for example, using bore water to maintain flows at the spring outlet, wetland, or pool, to prevent complete loss of their value (e.g., Ponder, 2002; Zhu et al., 2020). Damage to and loss of springs is primarily due to water extraction in the aquifers sustaining them (Knight, 2015; Powell & Fensham, 2016; Fensham et al., 2016), but also occurs due to land degradation, livestock damage, and colonization with invasive species (Brake et al., 2019; Cantonati et al., 2020). Chemical and biological pollution is another major problem, which to date has received relatively little attention in the literature. Pollution has left the waters emanating from many springs degraded or unusable for drinking, irrigation, or recreational purposes and has damaged spring-dependent ecology, including triggering toxic algal blooms (Knight, 2015; Katz, 2020).

Together, the loss of spring flows and degraded water quality result in major negative consequences for water supplies, human health, environment, and culture. Spring quality and quantity degradation most commonly relate to the following anthropogenic activities:

1. Agricultural operations (fertilized cropland and animal farming), which extract large quantities of groundwater and/or release high levels of nutrients, bacteria, and agrichemicals to the land and waterways (Katz, 2020)
2. Mining, oil, gas extraction, which dewater aquifers and discharge pollutants that migrate to springs through surface and subsurface pathways (Martin & Dowling, 2013; Llewellyn et al., 2015; Currell et al., 2017)
3. Inappropriate sanitation and other waste management systems, which contaminate groundwater and associated springs with nutrients and bacteria (Graham & Polizzotto, 2013)

The current and looming impacts of global climate change on rainfall patterns, sea levels, and evapotranspiration rates, which can impact on springs directly and indirectly (e.g., through changing recharge patterns or stimulating increased demand to extract groundwater), add further pressure, as do demands for domestic and municipal water from aquifers sustaining springs in areas of population or water demand growth.

It is impossible here to adequately summarize the cultural, ecological, and economic values that are at stake or lost when springs are damaged and/or threatened by the above processes. The Wangan and Jagalingou People, who petitioned the United Nations to intervene to protect the sacred Doongmabulla Springs (in northeast Australia) from coal mining on their country, summarized the significance of the issue as follows:

These springs are the starting point of our life, and our dreaming totem, the Mundunjudra (also known as the Rainbow Serpent), travelled through the springs to form the shape of the land. Today, our songlines describe the path of the Mundunjudra and the shape of the land, and tell us how to move through our country .. We perform ceremonies and rituals at the springs and other sacred places, like along the Carmichael River, to obtain access to the Mundunjudra and other ancestral beings and spiritual powers .. The mine is very likely to devastate Doongmabulla Springs, which are the starting point of our life and through which our dreaming totem, the Mundunjudra, travelled to form the shape of the land. If our land and waters are destroyed, our culture will be lost, and we become nothing. Our children and grandchildren will never know their culture or who they are, and will suffer significant social, cultural, economic, environmental and spiritual damage and loss. (Wangan & Jagalingou Family Council, 2015, p. 19)

With new and emerging pressures created by global climate change and ever-increasing demands to develop water, mineral resources, and land for economic purposes, the threat of degradation of springs is likely to intensify, leading to realization of such consequences for many people and ecological communities. In line with recent calls for improved global stewardship of springs (Cantonati et al., 2020; Rossini et al., 2020), carefully developed policies and management plans will be needed to safeguard springs and their incalculable values across diverse geological, climatic, and anthropogenic settings. These policies must be informed by (1) high-quality scientific data collection and analysis programs; (2) extensive community consultation and participation; and (3) effective monitoring, reporting, and governance mechanisms.

The aim of this volume is to provide case studies and guidance toward these goals, helping practitioners, policy makers, scientists, and the public to work together (and advocate) to better preserve, protect, and/or enhance springs and the many unique values associated with them. The volume is structured into three major parts, designed to give readers overviews of key topics and examples from around the world. The major contributions in each section are briefly summarized below.

1.2. THREATS TO SPRINGS AND THEIR VALUES

Part I, "Threats to Springs and Their Values," explores and examines causes of their degradation in a variety of contexts. In Chapter 2, Robert L. Knight and Angeline Meeks document the causes of declining water quality in the springs of Florida, the world's largest concentration of artesian karst springs. They show how integrated analysis of land and water-use data in a GIS model can help identify the dominant source(s) of pollution to springs and uncover links between groundwater extraction and water quality degradation. Their Blue Water Audit tool and associated resources have spread awareness of threats to the springs, educating many people about these. In Chapter 3, also focused on Florida, Rick Copeland and coauthors describe how climatic drivers have contributed to the salinization of Florida's spring waters, through passive encroachment of saltwater under conditions of reduced rainfall and rising sea level. Their study serves as a warning of what...