Descending Into Florida’s Underwater Caves

At the same time aquifers were being depleted, pollution from septic tanks, sewage, farm fertilizers and confined animal feeding operations have flooded springs with excess nutrients, fueling algae blooms in springs across the state. The white, sandy bottoms and waving thickets of eelgrass featured in films from the 1940s and 1950s have been replaced by thick mats of green, hairy algae, which blanket all underwater surfaces. Without eelgrass, the foundation of healthy springs, the ecosystems around springs are collapsing.

At Silver Springs, so much algae has accumulated that volunteer scuba divers remove it by hand. Every month, members of the Silver Springs Professional Dive Team descend to scrub algae off the bottom of the glass bottom boats so visitors can see the old underwater movie sets, which the divers must also clean.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/11/travel/florida-freshwater-springs.html