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In 2001, the Florida Legislature funded the first phase of the Florida Springs Initiative (FSI) to study and preserve the quality of Florida’s springs. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), administrator of FSI funding, has contracted with the Northwest Florida Water Management District (NWFWMD) to monitor first magnitude springs within the District, delineate springsheds and perform other research regarding spring water quality and distribution. The 2004 Florida Legislature continued funding and FDEP requested project proposals for additional work. The NWFWMD proposed completion of a thorough spring inventory located in the Choctawhatchee River watershed. Although the basin was visited in the Florida Bureau of Geology (now the Florida Geological Survey) Bulletin 31 "Springs of Florida" (revised, 1977), local sources and the experience of NWFWMD and Florida Geological Survey (FGS) staff indicated the presence of many more springs discharging to the Choctawhatchee River or its tributaries.
The Choctawhatchee Springs inventory was performed under FDEP contract GW245 (amended July 2004) during the period of December 2004 through June 2005. The scope of work included researching a variety of sources for spring locations then visiting each spring to collect photographs, differentially corrected GPS position and field water quality measurements. NWFMWD staff also took instantaneous discharge measurements at springs appearing second magnitude or larger. Project deliverables consist of this report.
