Ginnie Springs

For a century, the glass bottom boat tours at Wakulla Springs celebrated Florida’s seemingly endless depths of clean, clear water. With the water too murky to see through the glass, the boats are no longer running regularly — a symbol of the pollution plaguing the state’s freshwater and the cascade of consequences to come.

Many of Florida’s springs are at risk, largely from a combination of reduced water flow and increased pollution.

Pumping of around 1 million gallons of water a day continues while the deliberations are ongoing.

Critics promised immediately to appeal the decision affecting Ginnie Springs by the seven-member governing board of the Suwannee River Water Management District.

Nestlé wants to increase the amount of water it withdraws from Ginnie Springs to nearly 1.2 million gallons a day, to the dismay of environmental groups and local activists.