Florida springs threatened by pollution, pumping

“This is classified as an impaired spring by the state because of the nitrate concentrations,” Knight said.

Just a little farther down the river at Gilchrist Blue, the beauty abounds, but the pollution is even worse.

"Nitrate is chronically toxic to humans. It's acutely toxic when it's in high enough concentrations, so this is the same water that we drink, and we should be worried about that,” he said.

While many see spring water as one of the purest forms of H20, Knight says that’s not the case.

“Well, our groundwater is supposed to be, and springs, that's all they have is groundwater. But no, we've contaminated...our groundwater to levels that are said to be safe to drink by our public health departments, but are anywhere from 20 to 100 times higher than the natural levels of nitrogen in our natural groundwater, our unpolluted groundwater,” Knight said.

Fertilizers from agriculture and septic tanks are a major source of these nitrates.

Two hours away from the Santa Fe where the Weeki Wachee River glistens a glowing green, its namesake spring pumps out more than 170 million gallons of water a day.

Thousands of people take in this beauty every year. However, the nitrates have polluted the water in this spring, as well.