IF I WAS A SPRING THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I’D LOOK LIKE

Aquifers are said to take on the characteristics of those who study them; this may be said of springs as well. Springs have historical and cultural significance in many parts of the world. Their waters assume a reputation for medicinal qualities, and spring water is commonly considered to be pure merely because it is clear and cold. One community in Tennessee insisted that a well be called a spring before accepting it as a water supply. However, cultural and scientific notions with regard to springs are highly discordant. To groundwater scientists, springs are often considered to be less important than wells in aquifer studies. In fact, wells may be drilled next to perennial springs. Springs are the surface expressions of conduits to which flow converges and therefore act to integrate groundwater quality over the catchment area. Spring discharge is related to size and recharge characteristics of the catchment, and may exhibit considerable temporal variation in both discharge and water quality. Springs which exhibit little variation in water chemistry and flow are often preferred for public water supplies, but may nevertheless be contaminated. As the spring discharge is a mixture of waters with different histories, it is essential that studies of springs and their protection incorporate data from all major components which contribute to the flow. Springhead protection studies should also seek to determine the effects of temporal variations induced by storms or seasonal changes on spring discharge and water quality. Most utilities and regulatory agencies have little idea of the sizes of spring catchment areas and minimal information concerning the response time in the event of a spill in the basin. Sampling programs are often such that contamination can be missed by infrequent sampling or aliasing. We should add that the varied and numerous springs that we have studied look exactly the way we think they should look.