Ancient spring dries up,first time in 400 yrs

[Still Waters]

A spring which laid the foundations for the development of Royal Tunbridge Wells has dried up for what is believed to be the first time in more than 400 years.

The town was built around the Chalybeate Spring and tourists flock to it to try water from the ancient spring. This was found by Dudley Lord North, a courtier to James I, in the 17th century who declared it to have healing properties.

http://www.telegraph...-400-years.html

[Doug1029]

A spring which laid the foundations for the development of Royal Tunbridge Wells has dried up for what is believed to be the first time in more than 400 years.

The town was built around the Chalybeate Spring and tourists flock to it to try water from the ancient spring. This was found by Dudley Lord North, a courtier to James I, in the 17th century who declared it to have healing properties.

http://www.telegraph...-400-years.html

One spring drying up doesn't mean a whole lot. The spring that Moses is said to have purified with a tree branch was used as a water source for the troops of Ramses III who built a garrison nearby. Josephus found that same "spring" to consist only of wet sand. Napoleon said it made terrible coffee, but he thought his army could survive on it. And in 1921 two geologists determined that it could be made potable by allowing it to stand in a clay pot overnight - with a palm branch in it, just for show. That spring is Ayn Musa - it now has a little wellhouse over it to protect it from people and dirt. It also has 3500 years of history.

In the central US we have had a fairly wet 400 years. But springs that never went dry in recorded history (which only goes back to 1750 or so), are now going dry. This is just a return to the status quo.

Doug

[Leonardo]

The spring may not even have dried up at all, but may simply now be flowing through a new underground route it has just opened through erosion. We have had no warnings from environmental agencies that the water table has receded so alarmingly to cause natural springs to dry up.