I am often asked if a lake is a spring fed lake.

When I think of springs, I envision large cavernous holes that are spilling forth millions of gallons a day of crystal clear spring water at a constant temperature of 72 degrees - similar to the ones we used to dive at Ginnie Springs on a regular basis back in college.

The vast majority of lakes in Florida do not involve such a "cool" feature - ok, bad pun.

Many of Florida's lakes do, however, have springs in them. But these springs are often nothing more than small sandy regions that feed considerably smaller volumes of water into the lake.

A spring fed lake is not necessarily a lake with clear water. In fact, many tannin-stained lakes have springs that are only evident by the cooler temperatures that are experienced when swimming through them.

And vice versa - a clear lake does not mean it is spring fed.

The hydrological characteristic of lakes is a pretty complicated topic, and one I won't pretend to be able to explain in a whole lot of detail. If you're looking for a thorough explanation of Florida lake hydrology, you can download a report from the U.S. Geological Survey here.