Laserfiche WebLink
<br /> <br />Dock on Crooked Lake in central Florida in the <br />1970's. <br /> <br />- <br /> <br /> <br />The same dock in 1990. <br /> <br />As a result of very low topographic relief, high rainfall, and a karst terrain, the Florida landscape <br />is characterized by numerous lakes and wetland areas. The underlying Floridan aquifer is one of <br />the most extensive and productive aquifers in the world. Over the past two decades, lake levels <br />declined and wetlands dried out in highly developed west-central Florida as a result of both extensive <br />pumping and low precipitation during these years. Differentiating between the effects of the drought <br />and pumping has been difficult. (Photographs courtesy of Florida Water Resources Journal, August, <br />1990 issue.) <br /> <br />The chemistry of ground water and the <br />direction and magnitude of exchange with surface <br />water significantly affect the input of dissolved <br />chemicals to lakes. In fact, ground water can be the <br />principal source of dissolved chemicals to a lake, <br />even in cases where ground-water discharge is a <br /> <br /> <br />small component of a lake's water budget. <br />Changes in flow patterns to lakes as a result of <br />pumping may alter the natural fluxes to lakes of <br />key constituents such as nutrients and dissolved <br />oxygen, in turn altering lake biota, their environ- <br />ment, and the interaction of both. <br /> <br />41 <br />