Students And Explorers Dive Into Florida Springs

-- Radio-tracking cave dive launches on-line documentary --

WAKULLA SPRINGS - School children took a virtual look into Florida’s “liquid bowls of light” today during a first of its kind adventure at Wakulla Springs. Students from Cornerstone Learning Community and Florida A & M University High School joined Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary David B. Struhs to track cave divers through the conduits of the state’s largest first magnitude spring.

“This is a first for environmental science and technology,” said Secretary Struhs. “Explorers are opening a window into the Floridan aquifer and sharing discoveries about our precious spring system in real-time and through cyberspace.”

The Wakulla adventure marked the launch of a weeklong digital journey into Florida’s unique freshwater springs. As part of a new Internet documentary Florida Springs: Protecting Nature’s Gems, students used "radio-location" telemetry to continually track cave divers through underground tunnels from the surface -- a first in radio-tracking technology. One of the world’s top female cave divers, Jill Heinerth, led the exploration and conducted an exclusive demonstration of "through the rock" voice communications sharing the team’s experience with the topside students.

The radio tracking covered a primary recharge area of the Floridan aquifer where most of the region’s drinking water supply is held. The State recently added protection to the deep artesian spring by purchasing nearly 4,000 acres of land covering Wakulla’s deep aqueous cavern system.

“Our virtual voyage is helping us understand why preserving a spring system is so important,” said Struhs. “By following the journey of water we begin to see how our activities on land impact the quality and quantity of water underground.”