Indian River Lagoon clears up during coronavirus crisis

As a deadly pandemic unfolded across the Space Coast, those who sought comfort outdoors on their beloved Indian River Lagoon saw something they really hadn't seen in years: the bottom.

But the reasons for the lagoon's newfound transparency aren't exactly crystal clear.

Maybe it was the millions of sales tax and other taxpayer dollars spent on dredging rancid organic muck. Could it be the rainy-season fertilizer bans finally paying ecological dividends? Maybe folks are heeding all those public marketing campaigns urging us to mind our grass clippings and maintain our septic tanks. 

Or maybe it was just meteorological dumb luck from an unusual lack of rain and runoff.

Whatever the reasons, during the new coronavirus scare the lagoon's recent sparkling clarity has some pondering whether the pandemic's economic freezing effect might be lessening pollution into the ailing estuary.

"If people are not driving as much because they're working at home, we might see improved air quality that would lead to decreased air deposition on the lagoon," Virginia Barker, director of Brevard's Natural Resources Management Department, said early on in the pandemic.

Upward of a third of the nitrogen into the lagoon comes from air pollution, including tailpipes, power plants and other sources from afar, studies show. So logic dictates that lockdowns would lead to fewer cars on the road and less air pollution to fall out from the sky. 

Excessive nitrogen and phosphorous — the active ingredients in most fertilizer — is suspected of feeding the lagoon's algae blooms, which cloud sunlight from reaching seagrass.

In recent years, unprecedented algae blooms have choked off tens of thousands of acres of seagrass in the lagoon. Seagrass is an important source of food and shelter for marine life in the lagoon.

A mass seagrass die-off began after extreme cold spells in 2009 and 2010, followed by the mysterious deaths of large numbers of manatees, dolphins and pelicans in the summer of 2013.

Leaking septic tanks that foul groundwater, power plants, pet waste and tailpipes also contribute nitrogen and phosphorus to the lagoon, with each pound capable of growing more than 500 pounds of algae.

But it is still too early to tell how much benefit the lagoon will get from the temporary dip in vehicles on the road as many people work from home or shelter at home.

"I think it will depend on how long traffic is restricted," said Chuck Jacoby, a senior scientist at the St. Johns River Water Management District, which monitors the lagoon's health. 

"It will certainly be interesting to see," Jacoby added. "I'd be surprised if the coronavirus changes drove the things that we're seeing."

The district's water quality monitors do show, however, that levels of chlorophyll — a pigment in algae and other plants —throughout the lagoon have dropped recently below the thresholds which indicate algae blooms.

Overall acreage of seagrass remains 42% below what was growing in the estuary in 2007, with about 33,000 acres remaining in 2019, district mapping of the grass beds shows.

A lack of rain may be the main driving factor behind the increase in clarity, regional water managers say.

The Melbourne area until recently had been several inches below normal rainfall since Jan. 1, and as of Thursday remained more than 3 inches below normal for the year, according to data from the National Weather Service.

Jacoby suspects recent muck dredging projects in Brevard are beginning to yield improved water quality near the projects.

"Brevard has done some of the best work on following up on their dredging," Jacoby said of the monitoring of water quality after the dredging projects. "They definitely moved the needle."

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Jim Waymer is environment reporter at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Waymer at 321-242-3663                                         

or jwaymer@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @JWayEnviro

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