page_title: Kissingen Springs
section_title: Peace River
hierarchical_section_title: Kissingen Springs / Hydrology / Peace River
caption_attribution_description: English: Surface water-Groundwater (SW-GW) interaction , August 2002. Entire flow of Alapaha River near Jennings going into sinkhole to Floridan Aquifer. Sinkholes are one of a variety of properties of Karst topographies and carstic underground water systems that develope world wide in water soluble (chemically soluble) rocks (in Florida: carbonate rocks).
context_page_description: Kissingen Spring was a natural spring formerly flowing in Polk County, Southwest Florida. It was also a venue for recreation until it dried up in 1950. Hundreds of wells drilled into the Floridan Aquifer may have caused the demise of the springs. Its site is located near the northern end of Peace River, approximately 3/4 mile east of U.S. Highway 17 and 4 miles south of Florida SR 60 / south of Bartow.
context_section_description: Kissingen Spring used to discharge 20 million US gallons (76,000 m³) of water into Peace River. The river had a year-round flow.  Decreases in the spring's water pressure caused large sinks to reverse the flow and these sinks would received water from the riverbed.  Water flows into openings to the underground karst conduits.
  Progress is being made to control the
  draining of the aquifer.
  There are a number of cracks and sinks in the Peace River.  The water flows down into
  undergroundcaverns that can hold millions of gallons of water.
  A hydrology report on Peace River points to efforts to repair damage caused by the lowering of the Floridan Aquifer water level.
caption: Image of the entire surface water flow of the Alapaha River near Jennings, Florida going into a sinkhole leading to the Floridan Aquifer groundwater.
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