CHAPTER 2
 BACKGROUND AND AREA OF STUDY

 Related Studies

 The Ichetucknee is not the only spring system in Florida that is facing threats from nitrate

contamination. In fact over the past 40 years many springs in Florida, including those that

contribute to the Suwannee River watershed, have shown increasing trends in regard to levels of

nitrate-N (Katz 1992, Hornsby and Ceryak 1999).

 Many of the elements of the nutrient budget portion of this study were designed using

similar methods to studies based on other water- and springshed nutrient studies in Florida

(Pittman et al 1997, Katz 1999, Chellette 2002, Phelps 2004). All of these studies analyzed

nitrate loading from various anthropogenic sources as the main parameter of concern.

 Katz (1999) conducted a nutrient inventory of the Suwannee River basin in order to

account for sources of nitrate pollution in the many springs discharging into the Santa Fe and

Suwannee River. Each source is accounted for on a county by county basis as opposed to

hydrologic boundaries, such as a springshed. The study also accounts for fertilizer sales and

animal wastes individually, as opposed to estimating the output from agricultural land-uses that

account for their combined load. Isotope analysis was used to help determine whether the

sources of nitrates were primarily from organic such as human or animal wastes or mineral

sources, such as fertilizers.

 Approximately 50 years worth of Nitrogen data was analyzed to show the influences and

changes of different sources over time. The investigators found that in Columbia County, the

largest sources of nitrates in recent years were fertilizers, atmospheric deposition, and wastes

from beef cattle. As the Ichetucknee is a sub-component of the Santa Fe and Suwannee River