CHAPTER 3
 METHODOLOGY TO DEVELOP A NUTRIENT INVENTORY AND PUBLIC
 WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR WATER QUALITY IN THE ICHETUCKNEE SPRINGS
 SYSTEM

 Nutrient Inventory of the Ichetucknee Springshed

Ichetucknee River

 To quantify the N mass-balance equation of the Ichetucknee springshed system, the total

mass of Nitrate leaving the system via the River was needed. This was calculated by multiplying

the mean concentration, by mass, of nitrate in the river water by the total flow in Liters-per-day

Atmospheric Deposition

 Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and other elements is a naturally occurring

phenomenon that has been altered by human activities, specifically the burning of fossil fuels

and the release of nitrogen- and sulphur-oxides into the atmosphere. It is then deposited on the

land surface by rainfall and dry deposition. The National Atmospheric Deposition Program

(NADP) is a cooperative effort between the State Agricultural Experiment Stations, U.S.

Geological Survey, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and numerous other governmental and

private entities which monitors atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and other substances. The

estimate for nitrate loading contributed by atmospheric deposition were obtained using data

collected by the NADP/NTN station located in Bradford Forest (Bradford County, Florida; ca.

50km from Ichetucknee) (NADP, 2006) and multiplying by the area of the springshed.

Lake City's Waste Water Treatment Facility (WWTF) Sprayfield

 Lake City is a town of roughly 14,000, located in Columbia County. The city's effluent

irrigation spray-field system was completed in 1987, sending secondary effluent from the St.

Margaret Road Water Reclamation Facility through 4 miles of pipeline to the effluent irrigation

site. Effluent is applied to the treatment fields through an irrigation system consisting of 70