A lgal blooms and water quality concerns in the Indian River Lagoon have captured the public’s attention in recent months. Throughout the 156-mile-long waterway, many meetings have been held focusing on potential solutions for restoring and protecting this vital natural resource.
The St. Johns River Water Management District (District) is leading the Indian River Lagoon Protection Initiative, which includes projects to improve water quality in the northern and central lagoon, and science-based investigations that will improve the understanding and biological management of the waterway.
One of the projects is the Wheeler Stormwater Park, a cooperative project with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Brevard County to improve the quality of water discharged to the North Prong of the St. Sebastian River from the Sotille Canal. The project includes construction of a stormwater treatment facility on 275 acres of District property.
One of the science-based investigations involves a four-year program in which the District and outside experts are conducting specialized algal bloom monitoring, data collection, field and lab analysis and model development to enhance understanding of the lagoon system. The algal bloom investigation focuses on the necessary science, construction, operations, regulations and communication needed to address the lagoon’s imbalances.
The Indian River Lagoon Protection Initiative is creating field-based strategies for seagrass growth, enhancing the lagoon’s diverse ecosystems, and developing management actions to reduce nutrient loadings, control algal bloom formations, and implement basin management action plan strategies and policies.
The Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program (IRLNEP) is an important component of the initiative. The IRLNEP is funding 17 projects with community partners totaling more than $1 million this fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2013, through Sept. 30, 2014). IRLNEP cost-share projects this year include:
- Supporting a grants writer to help local governments locate funding for capital improvement projects
- Partnering with Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute on a project that measures concentrations and sources of harmful nitrogen and phosphorus in the lagoon
- Helping fund Florida Institute of Technology’s work that focuses on collecting data on nutrient loadings of residential fertilizer applications and their impacts on lagoon water quality
- Supporting The Brevard Zoo’s oyster reef restoration project in the Mosquito Lagoon
- Supporting the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s lagoon Aquatic Preserves’ shoreline restoration project to re-establish native grasses and mangroves on public shorelines along the lagoon
- Partnering with the Marine Discovery Center at Ponce Inlet to implement a pilot program to recycle restaurant-produced oyster shell waste to restore oyster beds
- Helping to fund a storm drain inlet project in Palm Bay that will reduce the amount of pollutants flowing from a northeast section of the city to the lagoon
- Producing a “State of the Lagoon Report” that will provide an update on current water quality and habitat conditions in the lagoon, projects implemented by the IRLNEP and partners and future efforts to protect and restore the estuary
Visit itsyourlagoon.com for additional information.
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