City Meeting to study potential impact on environment due to construction of the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter

The Santa Fe Springs Working Group recently held its first annual meeting at the High Springs Civic Center that focused on the potential consequences of building a Wal-Mart Supercenter in a geologically vulnerable area in Alachua and the effect it could have on the drinking water in Alachua and High Springs.

High Springs Commissioner Kirk Eppenstein spoke briefly to the packed room about strides being made by the city of High Springs.

"With our Karst geology for the long term I think we were heading down a road that was a little troubling as far as overloading or putting too much nutrient load back into the ground water," Eppenstein said. "I’m happy to say that we have been advocating this for years now and last night we found out that the Water Management District accepted bill 444 and is actually going to put High Springs in its budget for the next fiscal year so that we can start this water reclamation project."
Eppenstein also went on record with his uneasiness over the future safety of the area’s drinking water.

"I have some concerns about what's happening in a city close to here," Eppenstein said. "I'm willing to make a public statement as a High Springs City Commissioner to the Water Management District about my concerns and what I feel is a lack of scrutiny over some of the things that are happening."

Eppenstein also asked that his fellow commissioners take an official stance and he urged concerned citizens to write the Water Management District.

Last year Karst Environmental Services was commissioned by Alachua County Environmental Protection Department to conduct dye trace studies. Pete Butt presented data culled from the dye tracing conducted last July and talked about the underwater rivers that flow beneath our feet.

"Some of these features, some of these places are literally around us," Butt said. "We drive by them everyday."

He described the cross-county underground fracture and the numerous sinks, streams and swallets that dot the area from the Santa Fe River to Gainesville, which include Mill Creek Sink, Lee Sink, Split Rock Sink, the Devil’s Millhopper and Payne's Prairie.

Studies were conducted in which dye was introduced 130 feet into the cave in Mill Creek Sink near Sonny's restaurant in Alachua. Within twelve to fifteen days the dye traveled nine miles, clear to Hornsby Creek where it was detected in springs and in well water.

"This is not guesswork," Butt said, describing the hard science used to trace the dye. Background sampling was conducted in 15 different wells and 20 sites along the Santa Fe River and the water samples were sent off to the Ozark Underground Laboratory and analyzed, proving conclusively the interconnectedness of these underground rivers.

Cindy Butler is a cave diver who has been concerned about the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter since November of 2004. She presented photos of the interior of the large cavern that lies beneath the property. She also talked about the difference between a sinkhole and a Spring Cave, which provides an open window into the aquifer. In the past, such pristine environments were kept secret by the explorers and cave divers who enjoyed them. But now is the time to tell people.

"Nobody can protect them if they don't know where they are,” Butler said.

Mill Creek Sink is now a Preserve owned by the National Speleological Society. Due to its complex nature, only the most qualified divers are permitted to use it. Several years ago a diver died in the cave and there was talk of dynamiting it.

Instead, a group of divers suggested putting it on a guide system that will only take people that were highly qualified.

"I have guided, in this cave, people from all over the world and it does bring in a certain amount of dollars to the City of Alachua," Butler said. "These cave divers come in and stay in the motels and eat in the restaurants."

Butler said that this large cave is a spring system and as such takes in ground water. The preserve encompasses 8 ˝ acres with trails and old growth cypress, among the last in Alachua County and is now protected. However there is no such protection for the caves and river that lay beneath the ground.

"That whole area out there drains about 70 square miles reputedly that comes down here and all funnels down into a siphon hole," Butler said. "Not only do we have spring water coming into this cave system, we have all of this water from Mill Creek Sink that runs through there and we have a certain amount of groundwater."

This is another point of concern said Butler, should something happen to the cave during construction. The cavern provides a natural conduit for all the streams and storm water to flow through.

"If you collapse this cave at the sinkhole, where is all this water going to go? Mother Nature put this beautiful valve in here to get rid of all that water," Butler said. "This is a real legitimate problem that has not been addressed in any manner in any of these development plans."

Butler would like to see some kind of protection provided for underground rivers, citing the fact that just because the river dips out of sight doesn’t mean it doesn't deserve protection.

"I'm not anti-Wal-Mart," Butler said. She just doesn't want to see it built atop the cave.

Other concerned citizens at the meeting were anti-Wal-Mart, and expressed their frustration at losing their case against the Distribution Center. Their concerns focused around gasoline, antifreeze and oil seeping into the springs.

"We need flow studies," Butler said, maintaining that further scrutiny is paramount. "But realistically, we don’t think we’ll win this one."