Environmental Protection
Groundwater - Protection Program
Ground Water | Pollution | Protection Program | Well Permits
Groundwater Protection
Alachua County Environmental Protection Department (ACEPD) is involved in monitoring the quantity and quality of the Floridan aquifer system. Sampling efforts are aimed at monitoring levels of nutrients and bacteria in the groundwater. ACEPD also performs semi-annual potentiometric surface mapping of the Floridan aquifer system to monitor groundwater levels within Alachua County.
ACEPD has received grant funding from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to locate, survey and take water level measurements from wells in Alachua, Gilchrist and Columbia counties to determine springsheds or which areas of the Floridan aquifer system contribute to which springs on the Santa Fe River.
ACEPD together with the Alachua and Columbia Counties Departments of Health have sampled approximately 90 wells in Alachua, Columbia and Gilchrist counties for nitrates. This was an effort to determine the extent and degree of nitrate contamination in the Floridan aquifer system. A summary report of this study should be available in mid-2008.
ACEPD also helps protect Gainesville's drinking water supply by inventorying all wells in close proximity to the GRU Murphree Well Field in adherence with Alachua Counties Muphree Wellfield Protection Code. This inventory is intended to protect this portion of the aquifer by identifying nearby wells that are in poor condition which might thereby serve as conduits for aquifer contamination.
Pollution Prevention Programs
Alachua County Environmental Protection has a Petroleum Cleanup Program and a Storage Tank Compliance Program under contract withthe states Department of Environmental Protection. Check out their websites to learn more about these programs.
If you have swithched to electric or gas, you can have your old heating oil pumped from your household tank for free! Staff from the Alachua County Hazardous Waste Collection Center will come pump the oil out and dispose of it properly. Removing the oil prevents it from leaking out and causing pollution. To find out more about this program call 264-6800 or click HERE.
Old tanks can leak oil and pollute our drinking water.
