Springs Fever: A Field & Recreation Guide to 500 Florida Springs.
3rd Edition by Joe Follman and Richard Buchanan

Echo Spring

Citrus County

Summary of Features

  • Scale - 2nd magnitude
  • Scenery - poor
  • How Pristine? - surrounded by houses, docks in spring and run
  • Protection - unknown
  • Access - no land access

Directions

Address 9491 Spring Cove Road

From U.S. 19 in Homosassa, turn west onto Highway 490 (Halls River Road). After about 0.5 mile, turn left onto Fish Bowl Road. Go about 1 mile, passing entrance to Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park, continuing over a spring run on a small bridge. The spring is on the left, about 80 yards past the bridge, in the back yard of several houses. The spring can also be viewed from Spring Cove Road. 100 yards after the bridge, turn left onto Spring Cove Road. The spring is on the left, behind two houses, at 9491 Spring Cove Road.

Google Maps link

Spring Description

The spring is surrounded by private property and there is no land access. From the road, it appeared to be a semicircular pool about 40 feet in diameter. The depth and clarity of the water could not be determined. The spring forms a run of the same width as the pool that flows about 1,000 feet and then joins the run of the other Homosassa Headwaters Spring. This combined run then flows under Fish Bowl Road and into the Homosassa River.

Rosenau et al., refer to this spring and the other Homosassa Headwaters Spring as the Southeast Fork of Homosassa Springs (1977, p. 84). The average combined flow of this spring and the other Headwaters Spring was 69.1 cubic feet per second, or about 45 million gallons per day.

Use/Access

The spring and run may be used for swimming by the houses that surround it. Its run is used like a canal for boats from the houses to access the Homosassa River. JF was not able to get a good view of the spring to photograph it, even when he stood on his car.

Springiana

Personal Impressions

As with Sandbag Spring and numerous other springs in Florida, access to Echo is blocked by landowners who do not (and cannot) actually own the spring itself.

Nearby Springs

Other Nearby Natural Features