Indian River Lagoon advocates vow to fix Brevard 'plumbing problem'

Jim Waymer
Florida Today
  • Studies have shown one acre of seagrass can support about 10,000 fish
  • Large sewage spills from Hurricane Irma and its heavy rains contributed to the bloom

MELBOURNE —  Those who guide Indian River Lagoon cleanups vowed Tuesday to fix more leaky septic tank and sewer systems, curb pollution runoff, and stay the course on more than $400,000 in projects funded by a lagoon tax voters approved in 2016.

"We all know that Brevard County has a plumbing problem," said Marilyn Waters, president of the nonprofit Brevard Indian River Lagoon Coalition, said Tuesday to a crowd of several hundred at Florida Institute of Technology.  More than 400 people registered for the event,  "Straight Talk: Sewage Systems, Septics and Muck in Our Lagoon."

"We can't just find one silver bullet that's going to solve it all," Waters told the crowd.

Population growth, leaky septic tanks, fertilizers, sewer plant spills and other pollution sources all contribute to the lagoon's declining health, Waters said. 

She said Brevard County has a good cleanup plan, enacted by the 2016 lagoon sales tax, and should stay the course on that plan.

"We're starting to see some early signs of success," Waters said. "We have to have hope and keep going forward."

In 2016, Brevard voters approved a half-percent sales tax for 10 years, with the revenue targeted for a range of cleanup projects to help improve the health of the Indian River Lagoon.

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More than $46.6 million was collected from the sales tax in 2018, compared with the early estimate that $34 million would be raised. More recent estimates project the lagoon sales tax will raise $486 million over a 10-year period.

"We are seeing signs of progress," said Virginia Barker, executive director of Brevard Natural Resources Management Department.

Barker said the county is prioritizing projects that reduce the most nitrogen going into the lagoon, such as those that get septic tanks closest to the lagoon hooked up to sewer systems.

The lagoon has been in decline for years, under the scourge of massive algae blooms, seagrass die-offs, and widespread fish kills. 

Brown tide algae is one of the biggest long-term threats to the estuary. The algae that causes it — Aureoumbra lagunensis — first showed up in lagoon water samples in 2005 and first reached bloom concentrations here in August 2012. 

Satellite images of the lagoon's 2018 algae blooms resembled similar images from the spring 2016 algae blooms. The images showed levels of chlorophyll — an indicator of algae blooms — remained high in much of Brevard's portion of the lagoon last year, due to the mix of single-celled algae, mostly the species responsible for brown tide.

Brown tide algae is so small that it would take 200 of its cells to stretch across the period at the end of this sentence.

Biologists warn the harm the tiny algae could inflict on the lagoon is enormous. Brown-tide and other algae blooms block the sunlight that seagrass needs to photosynthesize.

Seagrass is the keystone of the lagoon food web. It's the manatee's main diet. Mutton snapper, lane snapper, gag and red grouper, spotted sea trout, blue crabs and other marine life depend on seagrass for habitat. Studies have shown one acre of seagrass can support as many as 10,000 fish.

Seagrass loss in recent years has boosted the potential for brown tide blooms, biologists warn, because seagrass stabilizes sediments that can stir up and make nutrients available to fuel excess algae. 

A 2015 study by scientists at Stony Brook University in New York shows that brown tides thrive off the forms of nitrogen typically found in sewage, which has contributed to the proliferation of the algae in the lagoon and elsewhere.

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Another factor fueling algae blooms is excess nitrogen from fertilizers, septic tanks, sewage spills and reclaimed water used to sprinkle yards.

John Trefry, a geochemist at FIT, said 680 tons of nitrogen  are loading into the lagoon each year, about half of it fluxing up from organic muck on the lagoon bottom. Trefry emphasized the need to step up efforts to figure out the sources of the excess nitrogen.

"If were going to get stuff out and we want to control it in the future, we're going to have to know where it came from," Trefry said.

Nitrogen feeds excess algae growth, and when that algae dies, it rots, forming organic muck that can cloud sunlight that seagrass needs to grow.

There are 7 million cubic yards of organic muck buildup in the northern Indian River Lagoon, Trefry said, or about 27 square kilometers (6,700 acres) of muck. 

"The amount of nitrogen coming out of that is more than 400 tons per year," Trefry said.

Recent large sewage spills from Hurricane Irma and the heavy rains during and after — including 20 million gallons spilled in the Satellite Beach area — added nutrients to feed the bloom. But those spills are not considered the sole trigger for the current bloom, scientists say, but one of many sources contributing nitrogen and phosphorus for the algae to feed on. Fertilizers, leaky septic tanks and sewer pipes, air pollution and decades of organic muck buildup on the lagoon bottom also contribute, they say.

State Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, has proposed the state provide $50 million a year in matching funds for certain categories of Indian River Lagoon rehabilitation projects. The bill also calls for significant increases in the fines for illegal raw sewage spills.

During a question and answer session at Tuesday's event, Duane DeFreese, executive director of the Indian River Lagoon Council, said even oysters and clams play a role in cleaning up the lagoonwater quality.

"We've got to get filter feeders back into the system," DeFreese said. "Clams and oysters don't like muck."

Contact Waymer at 321-242-3663

or jwaymer@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @JWayEnviro

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Hundreds gathered at Florida Institute of Technology's Gleason Center Tuesday to discuss cleanup strategies for the Indian River Lagoon.