Indian River Lagoon Action Assembly

NEWS RELEASE

Marine Resources Council successfully coordinated the Lagoon Action Assembly last month that involved over one hundred community leaders in facilitated discourse about the crisis we are facing with the collapse of the Indian River Lagoon. The two-day event was facilitated at the Florida Institute of Technology. Indian River County was represented by County Commissioner Tim Zorc, Sebastian City Councilman Richard Gillmor, Pelican Island Audubon Society president Dr. Richard Baker among others. The final top ten priority actions resulting from the Assembly are as follows:

1. Develop a lagoon-wide, long term public education program that affects behavior change through incentives and communications.

Focus on topics such as:
- Lagoon-friendly living
- Understanding and using reuse water
- Integrated pest management
- Fertilizer ordinances
- Pollution prevention and
- Water and energy conservation.
Evaluate success.

2. Establish and fund a “State of the Lagoon” report similar to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Report Card that includes social and ecological indicators.

Define appropriate pollutant, habitat, species, socio-economic, and behavioral metrics.
Report monitoring results back to the community in appropriate formats.

3. Remove and reduce muck by implementing a comprehensive muck management plan.

Prioritize muck removal.
Prevent muck by addressing sources.
Investigate beneficial uses of muck.
Monitor muck accumulation and movement.

4. Reduce impacts from septic tanks.

Complete a lagoon-wide mapping project.
Prioritize septic tanks based on their likelihood to impact the Lagoon.
Investigate and assign corrective actions.
Identify sources of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), bacteria, pharmaceuticals, and toxins and calculate relative loads.

5. Improve storm water management

Retrofit aging storm water systems.
Promote retention/detention and water reuse on residential and agricultural lands.
Implement street sweeping programs to prevent pollutants from entering storm drains.
Work to implement the FDEP statewide storm water rule to reduce pollutants from new development.