A 160-acre tract of Columbia County land that will help protect the water of Ichetucknee Springs has been approved for purchase by the state under the Florida Forever program.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet agreed to buy land along a dry valley known as the Ichetucknee Trace, which includes the route of a major underground conduit supplying the system with water, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection reported in a news release late Tuesday afternoon.

The purchase will protect the land and channels that move groundwater south to the springs in Ichetucknee Springs State Park.

“This acquisition is important for both the quality and quantity of water flowing into the first-magnitude Ichetucknee Springs,” DEP Secretary Noah Valenstein said in the release. “The restoration and protection of our world-renowned springs continues to be a key priority for the department and we appreciate the support of Gov. DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet.”

The purchase price to which the state agreed is $518,400. However, closing on the sale has not yet occurred.

Ichetucknee’s headspring is classified as first-magnitude with a flow of at least 100 cubic feet per second. It creates a river that is fed by additional springs on its 6-mile length to the Santa Fe River. About 233 million gallons of water from the system flow into the Santa Fe each day.

The Ichetucknee has long been a draw for people to float down the run in tubes or paddle it with canoes, kayaks and paddleboards.

But the Ichetucknee’s water quality has been degraded by nutrients that wash into the system from farms, septic tanks and other sources. The nutrients create excessive algal growth.

Meanwhile, groundwater levels are dropping, depriving the system of the volume of water it has historically had for a healthy ecosystem.