Interim report on the progress of an inventory of artesian wells in Florida: leading to the enforcement of sections 370.051 - 370.54, Florida statues

One of the causes of lower artesian pressure, waterwaste and aquifer contamination is the misuse and insufficientcare of artesian wells. In 1953, Senate Bill No. 57, entitled"An Act to Protect and Control the Artesian Waters of theState" (see Appendix) became a law. This law was passedthrough the efforts exerted by leading members of the Senateand the House of Representatives, who understood the needfor a wise and controlled expenditure of our most valuablenatural resource.The State Geologist and his authorized representativeswere designated by this law to enforce this conservationmeasure; however, no financial provision was included forthe 1953-55 biennium. The proposed program of the FloridaGeological Survey for this biennium did not include the fundsnor provide any full-time personnel for the enforcement ofthis statute. As a result, little actual work was accomplished during these two years, although much time was given toplanning and discussion of the problem.Realizing that this program could provide additional basicdata needed in the analysis of the water-supply problem, theState Geologist sought and was granted by the 1955 Legislatureadequate funds with which to activate the first phase of theenforcement of Florida Statute No. 370.051-054.Enumerated below is a summary of the progress madeon this investigation as outlined previously:1. Data have been collected on 967 wildly flowing wellsin 22 counties.2. Chloride determinations have been run on 850 of the967 wells.3. Of the 967 wells, 554 have chlorides in excess of the250 ppm, the upper limit assigned by the State Boardof Health for public consumption.4. Water escapes at the rate of 37, 762 gallons per minutefrom these 967 wells. This amounts to 54, 377, 280gallons per day.The investigation is incomplete at this time; therefore,no final conclusions can be reached. However, from dataalready collected, the following recommendations are proposed:1. That the present inventory of wildly flowing wells becompleted for the entire State.2. That the current inventory of wildly flowing wells beexpanded at the conclusion of the present inventoryto include all flowing wells.3. That a complete statewide inventory program beestablished and conducted in cooperation with theGround Water Branchof the U.S. Geological Survey.4. That the enforcement functions as set down in Sections370.051/.054, Florida Statutes, be separated fromthe program to collect water-resource data and thatthese functions be given to the Water ResourcesDepartment, if such is created (to be recommendedby the Water Resources Study Commission in a waterpolicy law presented to the 1957 Legislature).5. That the research phase (well inventory) of the programremain under the direction of the Florida GeologicalSurvey. (PDF contains 204 pages.)