“Earth is not just lakes, rivers and oceans but it is a vast network of ground water that links us all together. It is a shared resource from which we all drink.”

Jill Heinerth

The City of DeLand, the Blue Spring Alliance, Publix and Stetson University’s Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience, in line with a shared mission to protect, conserve and rejuvenate our precious Spring and water resources, will present a community-wide festival celebrating “Water in Art.” The festival will focus on the restoration and conservation of our Springs, as the living window into the health of our aquifer, the common source from which we get our water, and will provide an opportunity to educate a new audience of all ages and demographics.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has warned that Florida is facing a water shortage of at least one billion gallons a day by 2030.  In Central Florida alone, that shortage could reach 250 million gallons per day.

Locally, concerning more than 100,000 people that live in the 140-square-mile Blue Spring Basin, this unifying educational event will help to foster an open conversation among citizens, government, and industry of the critical need to value our shared water resources. In creating awareness and active concern, we will strengthen the health of our local Springs from which 90% of Floridians drink, ensuring the abundance, quality and enjoyment of our natural water for the future generations of our children.

The Water Festival will be a community-wide festival with the 2016 theme, “Water in Art.” This free, public event will include live music, dancing, a DJ, art exhibits, fun activities for all ages, food trucks and an impressive line-up of nationally-recognized speakers.

For more information, please visit http://thewaterfestival.org/