Region`s aquifer a fragile source of water

Region`s aquifer a fragile source of water 
Scott Streater
Pensacola NewsJournal

The water you drink and use to wash your clothes or shower comes from the most fragile aquifer in Florida.

Only 60 feet underground in places, the Sand-and-Gravel Aquifer is the source of all drinking water in Escambia County and most of Santa Rosa County.

Protected by only a thin veneer of quartz sand and gravel, the aquifer is extremely susceptible to pollution. Most of what hits the ground, be it rainwater or gasoline, eventually ends up there.
It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but it will be there, said Lamar Christenberry, Escambia County Extension Service director. It`s that fragile.

That`s why finding and removing leaking underground petroleum storage tanks here is such a high priority for several government agencies.

The Sand-and-Gravel Aquifer extends from Escambia County to Franklin County, about 100 miles east. Below the aquifer is a layer of clay several hundred feet thick, and beneath that lies the Floridan 
Aquifer, the source of most of Florida`s fresh water.

Starting at about Okaloosa County to the east, the Sand- and-Gravel Aquifer`s depths are too shallow to produce water. From that point on, the state depends almost entirely on the Floridan Aquifer.

On the one hand, the Sand-and- Gravel Aquifer`s closeness to the surface is a blessing. 

Escambia/Santa Rosa`s average 60 inches of annual rainfall quickly replenish the aquifer, helping avoid the type of water shortages seen during recent droughts in Central and South Florida.

But that feature also makes pollution more of a threat. Unlike the Sand-and-Gravel Aquifer, the Floridan Aquifer lies about 150 to 200 feet underground and a layer of clay in many spots helps block pollutants.

The Sand-and-Gravel Aquifer is very vulnerable because chemicals move very quickly through sand and gravel to the drinking water source, said John Pope, environmental manager of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection`s Drinking Water Section.

His concern is supported by a 1999 Escambia County grand jury report on the environment: The area`s groundwater is contaminated in many places from discharges of military, commercial and industrial waste; spills and discharges of dry cleaning chemicals; spills or leaks of petroleum products from asphalt plants and storage tanks; and seepage from landfills and septic tanks.
The community must not take the aquifer for granted, Christenberry said.

This is the only place we can get our water in the area, he said. There`s no other option.