McConnell Springs (Kentucky)

McConnell Springs is located off Old Frankfort Pike inside New Circle Road near downtown Lexington. From either direction on New Circle Road, take Old Frankfort Pike toward Lexington. Turn right on McConnell Springs Drive (directly across from the Fire Training Center). Turn left at the dead-end onto Cahill Drive, then turn right on Rebmann Drive and enter The Springs parking lot.

The park is open daily year-round, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

416 Rebmann Lane

859-225-4073
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In June 1775, William McConnell and his fellow frontier explorers camped at a natural spring in the wilderness of the Virginia territory known as Kentucky. The natural spring where it emerges is known as Blue Hole.

McConnell Springs is owned by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and managed by its Division of Parks and Recreation.
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It's a sinking feeling (Huntsville, Alabama)

Published November 18, 2007
Experts say the severe lack of rainfall has increased the risk of sinkholes, like the one that damaged an expensive home in Madison's Cambridge at Heritage Plantation neighborhood last week.

Although the problem in Madison has not been linked to the drought - city officials say it could just be soft soils and normal settling - dry times tend to be prime time for sinkholes, said Dr. Scott Brande, a geologist and associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Rainfall keeps North Alabama's many underground limestone caves flush with water, which Brande said acts as a "load bearing material" to help support the weight of the soil and rocks above the caves. During droughts, he said, cave water levels tend to drop. If it drops enough to make the earth above collapse, a sinkhole is born.

The Huntsville area has always been a hotbed for sinkholes because it is pocked with underground caverns. Blame it on our bedrock: the Rocket City sits atop a massive limestone outcrop that Brande said was formed 450 million to 500 million years ago. The main ingredient of limestone is calcite, a mineral that is easily dissolved by the mild acids in rainwater.

Acids eat away the calcite, creating voids in the limestone. After a few hundred years of rain seeping into bedrock, a small void can grow into a large underground cave that can become a sinkhole.
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Searching for romantic hot springs (Colorado)

Published November 3, 2007
A tour of three natural ‘hot pots’ includes both commercial and primitive stops

Glenwood Springs
...west down I-70 past Glenwood Canyon, got off at exit 111, and followed our directions about a half mile down a mountain-studded road. Unsure what to expect, we parked alongside the road and followed a dirt path about 75 yards to the hot spring.

Strawberry Park Hot Springs
...commercialized, destination about seven miles outside Steamboat Springs. Strawberry Park was a collection of cabins and terraced hot springs

Come November, visitors must have four-wheel- or all-wheel-drive cars to access it, Winston said.

Penny Hot Spring.
Following I-70 to Route 82, we continued south past Carbondale to a spring about seven miles below the Crystal River Resort. The hot spring was right off the road, separated from the Crystal River by a tarp and a few strategically-placed rocks.
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Kentucky Is Karst Country! - What You Should Know about Sinkholes and Springs

KGS Information Circular #5094

Kentucky is one of the most famous karst areas in the world. What is karst? It's a landscape with sinkholes, sinking streams, caves, and springs. Much of Kentucky's beautiful scenery, particularly in the Inner Bluegrass Region, is the result of the devleopment of karst landscape. A large amount of Kentucky's prime farmland (including its famous horse farms) is underlain by karst and springs and wells in karst areas supply water to thousands of homes. Many of Kentucky's major cities, including Frankfort, Louisville, Lexington, Lawrenceburg, Georgetown, Winchester, Paris, Versailles, Nicholasville, Fort Knox, Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Munfordville, Russellville, Hopkinsville, Princeton, Somerset, monticello, and Mount Vernon, are in karst areas as well. The Daniel Boone National Forest, with its important recreational and timber resources, is largely underlain by karst. Kentucky's caves provide recreational opportunities and contain unique ecosystems. Mammoth Cave is the longest surveyed cave in the world, with over 350 miles of passages. Two other caves in the state are over 30 miles long, and nine Kentucky caves are among the 50 longest caves in the United States.
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Info about publication

Springs in Kentucky
GIS Data from the Kentucky Ground Water Data Repository

Rand Tract (New York)

The Rand Tract, popularly known for its Webster Pond, is a fascinating 97-acre natural area located just off the west side of the 2000 block of Valley Drive in Syracuse, just north of St. Paul's Methodist Church. It is owned by the City of Syracuse, and administered by the Department of Parks, Recreation and Youth Programs. However, it is run as a wildlife sanctuary by the Anglers Association of Onondaga, who signed a long-term agreement with the city in 1960 to manage the property.

Kimber Brook, which flows into the Webster Pond from the south, provides the pond with a steady supply of clean, fresh spring water. The pond itself is approximately 4.2 acres in size and varies in depth from 7 to 20 feet. Water flows north out of the pond and drains into Onondaga Creek.
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Kiholo Bay, Kohala Hawaii

Kiholo Bay is beautiful. The waters are painted a dozen different shades of blue and the ocean is very inviting after the hike. Turtles frequent the shallow waters here and will venture into the fish ponds at night. The huge, spring-fed Luahinewai Pond anchors the south end of the bay, and the three black-pebble beaches are fine for swimming in calm weather.

Take Highway 19 north from Kohala Resort Area. Hwy. 19, Mile Marker 81. The public access road is on the right between Mile Marker #82 and 83. The gate is usually open during the week between 8am-4pm.
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Otter's water plans dry on details (Idaho)

Published October 31, 2007
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter announced last week plans for several Magic Valley water-conservation projects that could provide the city of Twin Falls with an additional water source, recharge springs that feed the aquaculture industry and pay farmers to stop irrigating as much as 20,000 acres of farmland.

Springs that provide water to fish farms have declined dramatically in recent years, reducing fish production by 250,000 annually at lower Snake River hatcheries. Otter's proposals call for rerouting spring water and pumping water back into the springs, but Marshall expects the projects to have nominal benefits for his hatcheries.

Among the proposals, the governor wants to transfer 775,200 gallons of water at Alpheus Springs, currently used by the Blue Lakes Country Club Golf Course for irrigation, to the city of Twin Falls for drinking water.
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