# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > General Homesteading >  How To Find A TRUE Spring

## Survival Guy 10

i was just wonedring how to find an actual spring i mean i know there is seeps and run-off but could some one please help because i dont want to think it is a spring and then get sick from it

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## your_comforting_company

Around here they are blue and feel ice cold. runoff springs are usually boiling with sand in the edge of a cliff, where these "blue holes" as we call 'em might have cave openings 30+ feet deep but look to be only 10 feey _maybe_ when looking from the surface. freshwater springs are generally very cold, somewhere around 45-60 and will be heavily tinged with whatever dominant mineral deposit is underground, in our case copper stain.
I would not think central Alabama to be much different than the Chattahoochee valley streamheads, though your springs might have a different color, like greenish from nickel. Most of the springs south of here look just alike ours. cold and blue.

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## crashdive123

I remember playing and drinking from a local spring we found as kids.  This particular one we found by walking upstream in a small creek that we used to play in.  It was well hidden, and wasn't that far.  I would call that method lucky at best.

Trails.com had a nice little write up on locating springs.
http://www.trails.com/how_2183_find-spring-water.html

Of course, if it is a "known" spring, it will/may show up on a topographical map.

Here are some spring pictures from Central Florida.  In the wider shots you can notice the white sandy bottom where the water bubbling up keeps any leaf and debris sediment clear.

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## Sourdough

Here where I live there are hundreds, maybe thousands of them. In the summer we just look for a patch of "Devils Club" and at the highest point of the patch will be a spring. In the winter they are massive glaciations in the forest.

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## Rick

Survival Guy - Any source of water coming out of the ground is a spring. It doesn't matter if it is a weep or whether it's flowing. If it originates from an underground source then it's a spring. You have no more guarantee that a spring is pure water than drinking out of a mud puddle. Remember that for water to come out of a spring it has to enter the ground at some point and it may, in fact, exit and re-enter the ground at many different points picking up bacteria, cysts, protozoa and viruses along the way. Unless the spring water is known to be good quality I would still suggest boiling or treating. It's just not worth the risk to me. 

Remember, too, that if the water passes through a cave that has a surface opening then bats may well inhabit it and that, of course, means guano. Here's a pic of a cave diver in the middle of a colony of bacteria. Not something I want in my water down stream. 


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Image source: http://www.cracktwo.com/2011/01/bahamas-caves.html

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## randyt

My friend from ky could sniff out a spring like no other. He said a indication of a good spring is a spring that its flow doesn't change much with the seasons.

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## kyratshooter

Water seeping from the ground is not necesarily pure!

I spoke of one spring a few days ago that surfaces and dives underground about 5 times in a 15 mile course of flow.

The water from the spring comes from somewhere.  It has seeped into the ground and gathered polutants from the air and ground as it did so.

have any water tested before you drink it and treat all water as dangerous until you have had it tested.

Finding a spring with good flow year around is a treasure.  Most I have delt with dried up during august and Sept, sometimes into Oct, at the very least.  That is not seen as a handicap in many places sinced even shallow wells dry up in those months and the deep wells get a strange taste to the water.

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## Pocomoonskyeyes3

The Summer of '77 I worked for the YCC (Youth Conservation Corps) In N Ga. When we were building the Panther Creek Trail I was the "Water boy", as we just couldn't pack in enough water for all of us to drink while working. I was given this job after our Team leader had had all of us do it at least once. I looked along the ridges for a couple of things.... 1) a large enough flow to actually fill the canteens with, then 2) was the spring cold. The reason I looked in the high ground was that any water that flowed from there had to have some kind of pressure to force it out meaning that it came from a source far underground and the reason cold water only was that it meant that the Water had to have been underground for some time to be so cold. 

The water I brought back was so cold in some cases that I was jokingly accused of going to the campground and getting ice water from some of the campers there. That just wasn't true, LOL, and they knew it. The campground at that time was a LONG ways away, and I would go and be back before I could have even gotten to the campground. Some of the springs in Fla. are the same temp. year round due to being underground for such a long time, something like 60°-65° F. I think most of them originate in the Floridan Aquifer, One of the largest Aquifers in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floridan_Aquifer

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## kyratshooter

North GA is one of those areas where water seems to spurt out of the ground every few yards.  Walking the AT you are constantly hopping across small dribbles of water seeping directly out of cracks in the rock.

Not unusual to have a small micro environment the size of a 55 gallon drum with ferns, wildflowers and cat tails growing around the seep.

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## crashdive123

The springs are a big attraction in Florida for residents and tourists alike.  Swimming, boating, diving, etc.  There are a bunch of popular ones, and I'll bet a lot more that are not "attractions".    http://www.floridasprings.net/

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## Pocomoonskyeyes3

I guess I should also mention that In my above post, while searching for a spring I might find 15 seeps, but most I would reject for one of the reasons I mentioned above.... Either not enough flow, or not cold enough. At least twice a day, while filling canteens my hands were so cold as to be almost totally numb. It actually felt good to be back in the heat,after filling the canteens.
@Crash...Yeah I've been down the Ichetucknee, Great Time!!

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## ClayPick

Heres one of the ones that comes out of a bank. The water percolates from a 2 foot layer of red sandstone underlain by about 4 inches of white sand and runs ice cold. I carried a bag of cement back there and made the crock. Its 30 inches deep and sunk into shale, bashed out by hand ...... fun eh?
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I have a cap on it now and the whole thing worked out nicely! 

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## Survival Guy 10

> Around here they are blue and feel ice cold. runoff springs are usually boiling with sand in the edge of a cliff, where these "blue holes" as we call 'em might have cave openings 30+ feet deep but look to be only 10 feey _maybe_ when looking from the surface. freshwater springs are generally very cold, somewhere around 45-60 and will be heavily tinged with whatever dominant mineral deposit is underground, in our case copper stain.
> I would not think central Alabama to be much different than the Chattahoochee valley streamheads, though your springs might have a different color, like greenish from nickel. Most of the springs south of here look just alike ours. cold and blue.


well when i saw central i do live near Lake Eufaula and that is the Chattahoochee River so we live close

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## Alaska Grandma

> Here where I live there are hundreds, maybe thousands of them. In the summer we just look for a patch of "Devils Club" and at the highest point of the patch will be a spring. In the winter they are massive glaciations in the forest.


Same here Sourdough, cept we don't have the devils club you guys do down in South Central.  We have a lovely spring that flows out of the base of a nearby mountain summer and winter and builds up a huge glacier of ice that can last sometimes well into July and August. It is really fun to go down there and chip a bucket of ice for summer lemonade and cold drinks!

If you are not used to drinking the local water sources, i would recommend you always filter your spring water. They make some really nice large (5-10 gallons?) gravity filters that you set up on a countertop and have a spigot for easy filling of cups, containers, pots etc... 

Grandma Lori
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## crashdive123

Looks like you've brought your own special "de-icing" agent. :Innocent:

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## Rick

Now, let's think about this. A woman, an axe and a bottle of vodka. No good can come of this, fellahs.

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## crashdive123

Her name is Lori, I wonder if that is short for Lorena? :EEK!:

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## Alaska Grandma

Hey, You guys be nice  :No: 

no one noticed the shot glass <grin>.
Someone had to sample the ice to make sure it was safe to use! :Eek2: 
Grandma Lori

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## SoCalTreker

> Survival Guy - Any source of water coming out of the ground is a spring. It doesn't matter if it is a weep or whether it's flowing. If it originates from an underground source then it's a spring. You have no more guarantee that a spring is pure water than drinking out of a mud puddle. Remember that for water to come out of a spring it has to enter the ground at some point and it may, in fact, exit and re-enter the ground at many different points picking up bacteria, cysts, protozoa and viruses along the way. Unless the spring water is known to be good quality I would still suggest boiling or treating. It's just not worth the risk to me. 
> 
> Remember, too, that if the water passes through a cave that has a surface opening then bats may well inhabit it and that, of course, means guano. Here's a pic of a cave diver in the middle of a colony of bacteria. Not something I want in my water down stream. 
> 
> 
> Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.
> 
> Image source: http://www.cracktwo.com/2011/01/bahamas-caves.html


Huh, that's good to know. I'd always assumed water coming from a natural spring was as pure and clean as you could get; now I'll think twice before taking a swig of spring tap! But what about water from a well? My parents have a deep well on their property and as far as I know there is no filtration system and none of us have gotten sick from it yet.

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## Rick

Well water is really in the same ball park today. Whatever has been dumped on the ground and found it's way to the aquafer is going to be in the well water. That's generally heavy metals but if the top of the well is open then anything that goes down from the top is certainly in the water. It's best to have the water tested at least once a year whether the well is a deep well or shallow well. Here are a couple of write ups to look at: 

Florida Department of Health: 

http://www.doh.state.fl.us/environme...l_water_07.pdf

And one from your own state. California Dept. of Water Resources: 

http://www.water.ca.gov/drought/wellinfo.cfm

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## finallyME

Springs can sometimes be hard to find.  I don't think I found one this year.  I usually find one right after a winter.  But this year, right after the winter was a summer, no spring.  :Flare: 

At work, I can find any type of spring I want from this source.
http://www.leespring.com/
but sometimes I have to go here.
http://www.centuryspring.com/  :Smash:

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## Rick

But....I think the OP meant......Are you sure you read the 1st post?

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