If a wing that is designed to keep the diver in trim should fail, then the trim of the diver will also fail to happen. With no air in the wing, the diver will revert to the position created by the center of gravity of the rig, which is usually lower along the main mass of the body. What this means is without air in the wing the diver will be in a feet down orientation. This may not matter much in open water, but it can make a big difference in a cave, especially a silty one! I’ve experience a couple of wing failures, both in very silty cave passages. Had I depended on my wing for my trim I would have left a silty mess behind me, and in some areas of the cave, left quite a few marks on the floor since the floor to ceiling height would not have accommodated me out of trim without touching something.

I’ve trained and mentored a lot of divers in sidemount diving. I start all of them out without any trim weight at all. We get in the water and I have them get neutral and relaxed. A majority of them trim out at about a 30-45 degree angle with their feet down. This occurs after I have already positioned their cylinders so they are as far forward under the armpits as possible. Any farther forward and the valves and first stages would have to go in front of the shoulders and throw the trim of the cylinders off. Sure, we can try to direct the air in the wing toward the feet to bring them up. This works if the wing isn’t already over half inflated to compensate for the weight of the cylinders (typical in wet suit divers). This also works if the wing is working properly (read hasn’t failed).

My recommendation is to place 1-3 pounds somewhere around the shoulders to bring the diver into a horizontal position. Trim weights don’t fail. No matter how much air is in or isn’t in the wing, the diver will remain in horizontal trim. If the diver is diving dry the dry suit becomes the buoyancy compensator and gets him/her neutral. If the diver is diving wet, then he/she better have a dual bladder rig or an SMB that can be used to get neutrally buoyant (properly place trim will be unaffected). But if the diver is depending on air in that wing to remain neutrally buoyant, a wing failure will likely lead to an out of trim diver.

Most divers need some weight to compensate for the gas being breathed down from the cylinders anyway. The gas being breathed weighs one pound for every 400-600 psi (depending on the cylinder size). A typical cave dive will result in the use of about 2000 psi, which equals 3.5-5 pounds per cylinder for a total of 7-10 pounds of lost “ballast”. But there’s still another 3-4 pounds per cylinder (6-8 pounds total) worth of gas that could be lost or used in emergency situations. Just like you learned in your open water class, you are supposed to be neutrally buoyant with an empty cylinder. We have learned to check for proper weighting at the end of the dive with 500 psi in the cylinder and then add 1 pound to compensate for that 500 psi of gas. This doesn’t change in technical or cave diving. We still need to be neutrally buoyant with empty cylinders. Many divers don’t think about this and are probably positive with empty cylinders, even if only by a few pounds. So adding trim weights will not only trim these divers out but also allow for them to be neutral should they end up still underwater with very little gas left in their cylinders.

So whatever method you decide to use to trim out, at least be aware of the possible consequences. If you’re strictly an open water diver, then it’s not going to matter much either way. But if you do any cave diving at all, then you need to consider what can happen to your trim if your wing fails. While you may be able to get out of the cave, it may not be without doing damage to the cave. So, if nothing else, keep cave conservation in mind.

Let’s look choosing your set of sidemount cylinders. Just as in backmounted, manifolded doubles, you must pair match your cylinders. It not a matter of making sure they are the same length – a 1/4 inch difference in length won’t make much difference in sidemount. Rather, it’s the buoyancy characteristics of the cylinders. I had a student that bought a pair of cylinders but ended up buying one cylinder from one location and the other from a different location. With a quick glance, the cylinders appeared identical. The differences did not become evident until during the first dive.

The first dive of my sidemount courses consists of having my students get in the water, getting neutrally buoyant, bending their knees, and relaxing. This way I can look at how their bodies hover and cant and make adjustments to the cylinder rigging so they end up horizontal. This particular student was consistently lower on one side. The rigging was identical on both sides. After we got out of the water, we examined his sidemount rig and the shoulder straps were evenly spaced on the waist strap. Nothing was off kilter and he shouldn’t have been off kilter either. Then I looked at his cylinders. One had a much more defined transition from the body of the cylinder to the neck while the other was a much more gradual transition. I looked at the manufacture dates and they were different. We placed the cylinders in the water with both having very similar pressures and they even sat differently in the water. Their buoyancy characteristics were different enough that they caused quite a significant difference in trim in the water. Lesson learned – pair match your cylinders.

Let’s look at the next mistake often made by newer divers – bigger cylinders will mean more bottom time. This isn’t necessarily true. Often times, bigger cylinders simply mean more drag in the water, which in turn means more effort to move through the water. More effort equates to higher gas consumption. Bigger cylinders could actually mean less bottom time due to this. When I first went back to backmount after a year of strictly diving sidemount I grabbed a set of LP108s. A couple days later I decided to try a different set of cylinders, a set of LP85s. I reached my turn pressure in each set of cylinders at the same location in the cave. That means I used almost 20 cubic feet less on the same dive using the 85s than I did using the 108s. The additional drag and subsequent effort of moving the larger and heavier cylinders resulted in a much higher gas consumption.

The cylinders I prefer for a majority of my diving are LP85s, HP100s, and LP95s. They are all on the smaller sider but provide sufficient gas to do decent length dives. However, even these cylinders are not created equally. Cylinders will have different buoyancy characteristics dependent on the manufacturer. This is the case whether they are the smaller cylinders listed here or the larger cylinders such as LP108s and LP 120s.

Let’s look at the LP95s first. I dive Faber LP95s. I’ve handled PST LP 95s and they are too heavy for my liking. While they are the same dimensions as the Fabers, they do weigh in heavier out of the water and have more negative buoyancy in the water. This makes them a little more difficult to handle, especially when having to remove a cylinder to pass through a restriction. The Faber LP95s are less negative and much easier to handle in the water. LP95s are also shorter than LP85s and HP100s, 2 inches shorter. I bring this up because it does make a difference. The Faber cylinders, because they are neutral when empty, have a tendency to have the bottoms roll up (see photos below) as their pressures decrease. With the Faber LP95s, this doesn’t become noticeable until they reach around 1600 psi. By this time most cave divers are already doing decompression. I did make the mistake recently of staying on my LP95s on the way out of a cave instead of switching back to my stage cylinder. At the end of the dive my cylinder pressures were at 1300 psi and I could definitely feel the cylinders rolling up. I will also take this time to say I do not use Fabers for any type of trimix diving. I did that once and found myself looking for additional weight at the end of the dive. The lower weight of the helium along with heavier undergarments made a difference I wasn’t expecting.

For LP85s and HP100s, I prefer Worthington cylinders. Because these cylinders are 3/4 of an inch less in diameter, they are easier to handle in the water than their LP95 counterparts. The Worthington LP85s and HP100s still end up being slightly more negative than even the Faber LP95s, but it’s a minimal difference that the smaller diameter almost negates. The Faber LP85s and HP100s are even less negative. The issue with this is when they get to about 2200 psi these cylinder begin to roll up along their attachment points. By the time they are at 1600 psi, they are extremely out of trim which in turn makes the diver extremely out of trim. The extra 2 inches in length makes enough of a difference to create this change in them. I’ve had people tell me this isn’t true. Well, maybe they happened to get smaller Faber cylinders that don’t behave as most of their lot do, but every Faber LP85 and HP100 I’ve seen in sidemount configuration does what you see in the photos below. So for me the obvious choice is to use Worthington LP85s or HP100s for the majority of my dives in which I want the smaller cylinders or use Faber LP85s or HP100s when I know my pressure at the end of the dive will be no less than 2000 psi. What I choose isn’t necessarily the best choice for everyone. But if you’re in the market for new cylinders my advice is to try before you buy. Get in the water with the cylinders. Take them on a real dive and to various pressures. And get some photos of yourself from various angles so you can see for yourself what those cylinders are doing.

I hope this information helps you in your quest for buying cylinders. And if you have bought a set of cylinders that aren’t working for you, contact me. Even if they’re Faber LP85s I may just buy them because they do make the best backmounted cylinders for me.

Full Faber LP85s trimmed decently

Same diver later in the dive with Faber LP85s with about 1600 psi

Faber LP85s with about 2200 psi with roll up just beginning – notice how the cylinder is positioned in relation to the cord

Faber LP85s with about 1600 psi showing a significant roll up – notice the difference in the cylinder position compared to the previous photo

DRIS’s new light blows all of my other backup lights out of the water. I’d even consider this as a primary light for certain dives. It’s that good! I put this light up against my best backup light and that light looked more like a penlight next to the DRIS light. I also compared it to my 21 watt HID canister light. My HID light was brighter, but the DRIS light stands its own next to it. On one of my dives with this light I pulled it out and used it as a primary while Jen was using her 21 watt HID in front of me. She had no problems seeing my DRIS light or any of my light signals. I am so impressed with this light I bought a second one for Jen while we were at BTS.

Take a look at a comparison of my 21 watt, my Intova Ultranova, and my DRIS light, in that order:

Here is a comparison of the Intova Ultranova and the DRIS light, in that order:

Finally, a comparison of my 21 watt HID and my DRIS light, in that order:

You can see the results of yourself.

Check out DRIS’s website for specs on the light – DRIS Dive Gear 500 Lumen Dive Light

If you’re interested in getting one or more of these lights, contact me at chipoladivers@gmail.com or text/call 850-272-7484.

There was a great turnout for the show. Aisles were standing room only. In fact, it was very difficult to get to some booths or to even make it down some aisles. While it’s great there were so many attendees, the organizers should consider renting more space in the future. Wider aisles would have been much nicer and safer. I would hope they didn’t reach their maximum capacity, but had there been a need for a quick exit it would have been very difficult to do.

There were a few manufacturer, distributor, and dive shop booths. Some of the deals available were pretty good, others not so great. Keep in mind this is coming from an instructor who is used to seeing better deals at shows like DEMA. For the general diving attendee, these deals seemed to be pretty good. The dive shop exhibits appeared to be pretty busy making sales. Manufacturers and distributors were not selling anything in order to keep from competing with the shops.

There were lots of destination/travel exhibits throughout. It looked like at least 2/3 of the exhibits were based on travel. A little higher percentage than seen at DEMA, but given the attendee base that makes sense. The displays were not as extravagant as those at DEMA, but that could be due to the smaller exhibit size and smaller venue.

The odd exhibit we saw was an investment broker that looked like he had been trying to sell retirement packages. I’m not sure what he was thinking when he booked the show but he was never at his booth when we walked by it so he may have decided to cut his losses early and cut out of there. I don’t know what would make someone think recreational divers at a recreational dive show would be thinking about retirement investments. LOL!

Overall, it was a good show. We got to see many friends and do some catching up and even met some new friends. We headed out to Cheeseburger in Paradise for lunch with a friend, which was a nice option over eating food provided at the show, and only a 5 minute walk from the Exposition Center. We look forward to returning next year and checking out some of the seminars.

Anyway, after spending a few hours getting gear configured we started discussing regulator configuration. Yes, we cover that as well. There are lots of ways to configure regulators. You can run the hoses around your neck, or straight up to your mouth, or one hose around the neck and the other straight up. The way you run your hoses will affect the way your rig is configured. But no matter how you configure your hoses and your rig, one thing remains the same – gas management.

My recommendation is to keep gas pressures between cylinders no more than 1/6 of total starting pressure from each other. If you start with 3300 psi, switch over 500-600 psi later, or at 2700 or 2800 psi. Then breathe the next cylinder down to your turn pressure (we’ll use 2200 psi here for simplicity). Switch back to the first cylinder and breathe that until turn pressure (2200 psi), turn the dive and keep breathing from that regulator until you get to 1600 or 1700 psi. Switch back and breathe this regulator until the dive is over. This means you will have a total of three regulator switches during the dive. The reason for switching is not to balance the cylinders, although some people will start to feel off balance if their cylinders are more than 600 psi difference in pressure. The reason for switching is in case a gas issue arises.

Some divers, however, don’t think it matters how sidemount cylinders are breathed from. They will breathe one cylinder down to turn pressure, switch to the other cylinder and breathe it down until they exit the cave. Sometimes they will breathe the second cylinder down enough to where they might need to switch back to the first cylinder before getting back to open water. While at first glance this may appear to work, and if nothing goes wrong it does, when things go pear shaped this practice may result in issues.

Let’s look at some examples using the above gas switches. Jim is diving HP100s that are filled to 3300 psi. He begins his dive in a low flow system breathing off of the right side cylinder. He breathes that cylinder to 2200 psi and switches to his left side cylinder. When he reaches 2200 psi on his left cylinder he turns the dive but continues to breathe off that cylinder. When Jim has breathed down the left cylinder to 1100 psi his dive buddy, Kim, who is diving backmount HP 100s has a first stage failure and loses all the air in her cylinders. Jim donates the regulator from his right cylinder to Kim and they continue to exit. However, during the incident, Jim breathed his left cylinder down to 900 psi. Even if Jim’s gas consumption remains the same he is still about 1100 psi from the exit. Remember, Jim and Kim swam 1100 psi in and Jim had breathed 1100 psi from one cylinder and had another 1100 psi to go. If Jim had managed his gas differently he would have enough gas to exit. As it is he is 200 psi short so Jim and Kim will have to buddy breathe the last part of the passage out.

Let’s look at this with Jim managing his gas as recommended above. Jim breathes his right cylinder down to 2700 psi and switches to his left. He then breathes his left cylinder to 2200 psi and switches back to his right. When he reaches 2200 psi on his right cylinder he turns the dive and continues to breathe that cylinder until it gets to 1600 psi. At that point he switches to his left cylinder and breathes that down to 1700 psi when Kim has her incident. Jim still has the same amount of gas. In the first example he had 1100 psi + 2200 psi = 3300 psi. In this example he has 1700 psi + 1600 psi = 3300 psi. The difference is when he donates the regulator from the cylinder containing 1600 psi, he still has 1500 psi left in the other cylinder (assuming he still breathes it down 200 psi during the incident). Now they both have enough to exit safely.

At this point some of you are saying to yourselves that you don’t ever dive mixed teams. Either everyone is in sidemount or everyone is in backmount. That’s fine. And to be honest, I can’t think of an incident in which a properly trained and experienced sidemount diver would need to share air when gas management is done properly so we’ll approach this in a different manner. Let’s look at another example. We’ll take this from the perspective of a self sufficient sidemount diver. But this example will work with two sidemount divers that may happen to share air at the time of the incident.

Joe is diving HP 130s filled to 3300 psi. As Jim did Joe breathes his right cylinder down to 2200 psi, switches to his left cylinder and breathes that down to 2200 psi and turns the dive. He continues to breathe his left cylinder down to 1100 psi. Let’s say Joe continues to breathe his left cylinder. About 200 feet from the exit he starts to feel his regulator breathing harder. He switches back to his right cylinder only to discover the second stage got jammed up with sand in a low sandy restriction he passed through earlier. He tries to purge the sand clear but it’s packed in there pretty tightly so Joe is left without a regulator to breathe from. Joe could go to his buddy and signal out of air, but if his buddy was managing his cylinders the same way he would also be switching to his right cylinder so he wouldn’t have a regulator to donate.

Had Joe and his buddy switched every 500-600 psi their cylinders would never get below 1100 psi so neither regulator would ever start to breathe hard. And it would be less likely that their second stage regulators would be unused long enough to become unworkable. Even with a second stage regulator out for 500-600 psi, it’s possible to get packed with sand a pretty good amount. I’ve had this happen to me to such a point I had to switch back to my other second stage while I worked on clearing the regulator and it had only been out for a couple hundred psi. Fortunately, I was able to switch back, get the regulator clear, and continue my exit uneventfully.

Yes, these examples are of incidents that are not likely to happen. But what incidents are likely to happen? How many cave divers do you know have had an out of air incident? How many do you know have ever been lost off the line? Yet, before every dive we do S-drills (or at least we should) and we all carry safety reels/spools. We prepare for unlikely events and this is just another way to prepare that doesn’t take more than one more regulator switch.

While in the above examples straight thirds was used for simplicity, I do not condone diving to thirds. Diving to thirds is not conservative enough. But that’s another article.

Update – David was extubated on Monday, February 27. He is awake, talking, and even taking in oral fluids. His vision has been unaffected. This is great news! He still has a long recovery ahead of him but being extubated this soon after the incident is very promising!

2nd update – David’s physicians have determined his burns are mostly 1st and 2nd degree. He has only small areas of 3rd degree burns. This means David will have a much faster and easier recovery period! His burns should not require any skin grafts and should not limit his mobility at all. Looking forward to seeing you back in the water again soon, David!

Update Monday, March 5, 2012 – David is going in for surgery this morning. We are hopeful that it will be a short surgery because that will mean there is not as much area to repair. Overall, he is doing much better at a little over a week since his incident. Let’s keep him in our thoughts today.

Latest update – David was recently moved out of critical care into a recovery unit. He is doing much better and has even been on the internet. This is great news!

David’s medical and associated fees are expected to exceed $1 million. While insurance will cover some of this, David will still have out of pocket costs. A paypal account has been set up to help offset these costs.

There will be a memorial for Debra on March 11, 2012 at 3pm EST at Ginnie Springs Outdoors in High Springs, FL. Come help us celebrate the life of our friend, wife, cave diver, and operations manager.

Debra Green Fund

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]]> http://chipoladivers.com/2012/02/rest-in-peace-debra-green/feed/ 2 http://chipoladivers.com/2012/02/merritts-mill-pond-history/ http://chipoladivers.com/2012/02/merritts-mill-pond-history/#comments Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:16:54 +0000 admin http://chipoladivers.com/?p=1065 People often ask me about the history of Merritt’s Mill Pond. When I first moved here I didn’t know too much about it other than some of the obvious information. The 270-acre, 10-12 foot deep pond is located in Marianna, FL. The head spring is called Blue Spring by the locals, Jackson Blue by cave divers. There are 7 other springs along the 4.25 mile stretch from the head spring to the current dam that most people are commonly aware of, the most recent being found around 2005. The springs most often visited in addition to Jackson Blue are Twin and Hole in the Wall caves, mainly because they are the only springs on the pond that can be accessed in backmount configuration. The other springs on the pond are Shangri-La, Indian Washtub, Hidey Hole, Lamar’s Landing, and Gator Hole. These are names known to cave divers and may be known to locals by other names. The latter 5 springs mentions have sidemount or no mount entrances, and at times cannot be accessed due to sand slides in the entrance due to lack of water flow.

Blue Spring is a first magnitude spring, which means it discharges more than 100 cubic feet per second or about 650,000 gallons a day. Average discharge based on available records is 126 cubic feet per second. Discharge has been measured at over 125 million gallons a day in the past. In times of drought, the spring is known to still discharge about 10 million gallons a day. Most of the other springs are what cave divers consider low flow systems. At times, Hole in the Wall is even known to siphon.

The average water temperature in the springs is 68 degrees year round. The water around the Blue Spring basin tends to stay this temperature year round as well because of the amount of water being discharged every day. The temperature of the pond fluctuates throughout the year from about 51 degrees in the winter to 88 degrees in the summer. During most winters the water temperature in Hole in the Wall and Twin will drop slightly. The water temperature in Hole in the Wall has been recorded as low as 56 degrees and in Twin as low as 65 degrees.

The water discharging from Blue Spring is believed to have been under ground for about 17 years. So the chemical composition of the discharge water is a result of rain falls and seepage from 17 years ago. The state has seen an increase in nitrates in the discharge water. This is due to the large focus on agriculture in Jackson County. What we’re seeing in this is what agriculture was doing almost 2 decades ago. Rain falls and seepage today will not be seen for another 17 years. This makes it extremely important to protect our ground water today because we will not see the effects of what we dump on the ground for another 2 decades.

Merritt’s Mill Pond flows into Spring creek, which starts just south of the dam on Hwy 90. Spring Creek continues for another 2.5 miles before it joins the Chipola River. The pond has existed in its current length since about 1866 when a dam was built at the present site. A year or two later the dam was sold and enlarged, creating the size of the pond as we see it today. The first dam was built at Blue Spring during the 1830s. It was too close to the spring and didn’t allow for the wheel to turn (it was a grist mill) so it was taken down. In the 1840s, a second dam was built about 2.5 miles down from the head spring. When the final location of the dam was established in 1866, there was a lawsuit by the owner of the existing dam because the new level of the pond stopped his mill from working. Even before the first dam was built, the creek that ran from Blue Spring to the Chipola River was large enough that the native Americans that lived in the area could travel on it by canoe.

Over it’s history, Merritt’s Mill Pond has been drawn down 6 times. The first draw down was in 1956, then in 1971-72, then 1980, 1990, 1994-96, and the current draw down of 2012. The draw down in the 1990s was done to make some modifications to the dam. All other draw downs occurred to try to improve the health of the pond.

Today, Merritt’s Mill Pond is very popular for cave diving, fishing, and general recreational aquatic activities. The Blue Spring Recreational Area park has been know to have several hundred people present on hot summer days. The park operates 7 days a week during the summer months with Memorial Day Weekend as its first weekend being open to the public and Labor Day weekend as its last weekend being open to the public. Hours are from 10-6 Monday through Saturday and 11-5 on Sundays. The county provide lifeguards and a concession stand during those hours. The pond is very busy most summer days with several pontoons, fishing boats, and personal water crafts running up and down the pond. During colder months you can still find the dedicated person out there fishing as the pond is known for record catches.

Cave diving is popular on the pond year round. Up until 2008 cave diving was restricted at Blue Spring during the hours it was open to the public in the summer. The county lifted that rule and opened the park to cave divers 24/7. In 2010 they placed key pad on the gate so visitors just have to enter the key code to open the gate. Access is $25 per day or $150 per year. Or you can access the spring, as well as the other 7 springs by boat by using one of the boat launches along the pond.

The pond has 3 boat launches along its length. Baptism Launch is the one closest to the head spring and is located at the end of Day Loop Rd, just before the entrance to Blue Spring park. Baptism Launch is a primitive launch and does not allow for launching trailered boats. Hunter Fish Camp Launch is located about 3 miles south of Baptism Launch, right across from Gator Hole. It is a paved launch. Be careful though! When the water level is about a foot low your motor prop will hit the bottom so keep it up. The third launch is located at Arrowhead Campground which is right at the dam. There’s a small fee to launch a boat from this ramp.

If you’re interested in taking a tour of the pond or doing some guided cave dives contact us at chipoladivers@gmail.com or call us at 850-594-7991. We have a 24 foot pontoon boat and a 16 foot wide jon boat that will get us around the pond quite easily.

]]> http://chipoladivers.com/2012/02/merritts-mill-pond-history/feed/ 0 http://chipoladivers.com/2012/02/wakulla-springs-cave-diving/ http://chipoladivers.com/2012/02/wakulla-springs-cave-diving/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:26:12 +0000 admin http://chipoladivers.com/?p=968 For many years, even decades, cave divers have wanted cave diving access to Wakulla Springs. Wakulla Springs, located in Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park about 14 miles south of Tallahassee, FL, is one of the largest and deepest freshwater springs in the world.

Scientific interest in the spring first arose in the mid 19th century when mastodon bones were reportedly first seen. Since that time the remains of several extinct mammals that date back to the last glacial period have been found. The Florida Geological Survey (FGS) commissioned their first study of the spring in 1930 and has conducted several other studies since that time.

Wakulla Springs ranges in the 200-300 foot depth range and is the longest cave system in Florida measuring at over 28 miles. Some cave divers believe there are more passages to be explored and that the system eventually empties into the Appalachicola River. Two groups of cave divers have had scientific permit access to Wakulla Springs over the years. One group continues to conduct studies in the system. Opening Wakulla Springs to limited cave diving without scientific permit could help produce more information on the system and possibly expand the system beyond its currently known boundaries.

While the Florida DEP will continue to look into the proposal to open Wakulla Springs to limited cave diving, it is just a small first step in the process. There is no timeline in place and this does not guarantee any changes. However, this first step is a small victory of cave divers. Thank you for your support and please keep checking back here. We will continue to post updates and requests for more letters when needed.

See an article in the Tallahassee Democrat here – DEP to draft plan for diving at spring

]]> http://chipoladivers.com/2012/02/wakulla-springs-cave-diving/feed/ 0 http://chipoladivers.com/2012/01/merritts-mill-pond-draw-down/ http://chipoladivers.com/2012/01/merritts-mill-pond-draw-down/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:39:48 +0000 admin http://chipoladivers.com/?p=940 They are lowering the Mill Pond by four feet to expose the vegetation to the cold winter air and try to kill it off. The vegetation growth has gotten out of control over the past couple of years. They plan on keeping the dam down for 45 days and have recommended all boats be pulled out of the pond during this time.In late January 2012 Jackson County Parks and Recreation began the first draw down of Merritt’s Mill Pond since 1995. The vegetation in the pond had gotten so out of control it boats were unable to get through without having to clear their props several times and the basin at Blue Spring Recreational Area was almost completely filled in with eel grass.

The draw down began January 23, 2012 and continued for the next five days dropping the water level three feet. The purpose was to expose the vegetation to the air and hopefully get some freezing temperatures to kill it off. The state was also planning on spraying the pond with a chemical safe for swimmers and fish but deadly to the vegetation.

Here are some photos from the draw down.

Merritt’s Mill Pond during the draw down

Jackson Blue Spring before and after photos

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