WATER & COAST
Econfina Creek Water Management Area
Washington County · Panhandle & Emerald Coast
41,000 acres held by the Northwest Florida Water Management District across Washington and Bay counties.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Econfina Creek runs twenty-six miles from Jackson County down through Bay and Washington, draining a watershed of 275 square miles. Eleven named springs or spring groups feed it through more than thirty-six separate vents, and four second-magnitude springs are packed into one stretch under five miles long. Gainer Springs is a first-magnitude group. Williford Spring, Blue Spring, Pitt and Sylvan Springs and Devil's Hole are the other names people use. The designated canoe trail runs twenty-four miles from the Scott Road Bridge to the State Road 388 Bridge and has the steepest fall of any designated canoe trail in the state, which means real rapids and rock outcrops rather than flat water. This is not a beginner paddle. The area also holds Hammock Lake, Whitewater Lake, Sparkleberry Pond and the Rattlesnake and Wolf ponds. All of it matters beyond recreation: the creek supplies Deer Point Lake, a 5,000-acre reservoir built in 1961 that is the drinking water for Panama City and Bay County
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