Regional water managers celebrate Indian River Lagoon projects
MELBOURNE — As goes the Indian River Lagoon, so goes the rest of Florida's coastal waters, the state's top environmental official said Monday.
"If we're successful here, we can be successful in the state as a whole," Shawn Hamilton, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, said to a few dozen dignitaries at of Front Street Park, at the mouth of Crane Creek, a main lagoon tributary that officials promise will be cleaner in coming years.
Officials said Monday's event, organized by the St. Johns River Water Management District, was to highlight government partnerships that helped make hundreds of millions of dollars in lagoon restoration projects happen. They brought specific attention to two recently approved lagoon projects and one that just started this past spring along Crane Creek. Officials say the lagoon is turning a corner, with seagrass improving in some areas, after decades of harmful algae blooms, fish kills, record manatee die offs and dolphin diseases. But they cautioned that the battle's far from over.
"It's a great start. We have a lot of work to do," Halmilton said. "The momentum has switched."
Momentum wasn't looking good in 2021 when about a third of the record total 1,101 manatee deaths in the whole state happened in Brevard. That and other ecological fallouts in the estuary resulted in more $100 million in state funding for the lagoon this year.
The lagoon is still reeling from a "superbloom" of algae that blanketed nearly all of the lagoon in 2011 and that killed off most of the lagoon's best seagrass. That and subsequent algae blooms choked fish and other lagoon life.
Years of public outrage and pressure resulted in millions from Tallahassee flowing the lagoon's way, as well as from a local-option sales tax approved by Brevard County voters in 2016.
The St. Johns River Water Management District leads many of the lagoon cleanups.
“Over the past decade, the District has awarded nearly $40 million for projects in Indian River Lagoon communities, leveraging a total of $81 million in public dollars when combined with local matching funds and state funds from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection,” said St. Johns River Water Management District Executive Director Mike Register.
The district highlighted three recent projects:
Crane Creek
The more than $23 million Crane Creek / M-1 Canal project will substantially reduce nitrogen and phosphorus to the Iagoon. Too much of those two nutrients spurs excess algae that can choke out seagrass, fish and other marine life.
The M-1 Canal is a century-old, man-made flood control canal in Brevard that cuts through the drainage divide between the St. Johns River and the lagoon. The canal diverts stormwater from 5,300 acres in Melbourne, West Melbourne, Melbourne Village and parts of unincorporated Brevard. It carries water east to the lagoon via Crane Creek.
The project restores the baseflow in the M-1 Canal westward for treatment in a stormwater treatment area before it flows to the St. Johns River basin.
The project began in the spring and is expected to be finished in early 2025.
"There's never been a greater investment than there has been today," Maryam Ghyabi-White, vice chairwoman of the District's Governing Board, said of the more than $100 million state lawmakers allocated this year for lagoon restoration.
Moorhen Marsh
The estimated $5.5 million Indian River County Moorhen Marsh Low Energy Aquatic Plant System uses water lettuce plants to absorb nitrogen and phosphorus from stormwater in a 6,300-acre area. The system pumps 10 million gallons a day from the so-called North Relief Canal and into the plant treatment area. The Estimated nutrient load reduction: 4,854 pounds per year of nitrogen and 785 pounds per year of phosphorus.
Ponce Inlet Ponce De Leon Circle Septic-to Sewer
The $1 million Ponce Inlet Ponce De Leon Circle Septic-to Sewer project converted 24 homes on septic tanks to a sewer system.
"It's not as hard getting the money," Sen. Debbie Mayfield said, as she thanked Brevard County Natural Resources Management office Director Virginia Barker for seeing so many lagoon cleanups through. "The hardest part is getting the projects done."
Rep. Thad Altman praised voters for recognizing the lagoon's importance, referring to the 2016 referendum that approved a half-cent sales tax to raise about $50 million per year Indian River Lagoon cleanups.
"Words can not express the gratitude and significance of where we are," Altman said. "I give all the credit to Brevard voters."
The tax is expected to raise more than $500 million over its 10-year lifespan, to help pay for projects such as muck dredging, stormwater upgrades, and to convert homes on septic tanks to sewer systems.
"This is just the beginning," Altman said.
To learn more about the St. Johns River Water Management District’s work to restore the Indian River Lagoon, visit www.sjrwmd.com/waterways/renew-lagoon.
Contact Waymer at 321-242-3663 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com Follow him on Twitter@JWayEnviro and at facebook.com/jim.waymer
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Officials tout Indian River Lagoon projects, but it's just the beginning
