One by one, six students from Maclay School in Tallahassee took turns running from Wakulla Springs to the Florida Capitol.

During the 16 mile journey runners handed off a bottle of water from the spring to give to lawmakers, in hopes of delivering a united message. "Save our springs!" yelled Jordan Reece as he ran by our camera.

"It's very important. We don't want them to get all algae filled and nasty. We want them to be nice for future generations," explained Jana Stolting, a senior at Maclay School.

Several springs advocates followed the teens on their trek into Leon County and to their final destination, where they were greeted by hundreds of leaders and supporters from around the sunshine state.

"When we turned the corner I didn't expect all these people and it was just really cool to see so many people supporting saving Florida Springs," said Reece, who is a senior at Maclay school.

Supporters of the springs, held signs and chanted, hoping lawmakers hear them loud and clear. Those who've studied the water sources say the 700 springs throughout Florida are in serious trouble and action needs to be taken now before it's too late.

"We desperately need spring legislation to help save Florida springs and the Florida Springs Rally is our first opportunity to bring the public together to demonstrate that we need help," said Jim Stevenson, the Florida Springs Rally coordinator.

Several Florida representatives and senators also spoke to those at the rally, saying they realize how important springs are to the state
and they will do their best to help this legislative session which kicks off the first week of March.