IRLNews:2021/02/10/Representative Thad Altman Introduces Five Indian River Lagoon House Bills
From Indian River Lagoon Project
Representative Thad Altman Introduces Five Indian River Lagoon House Bills
February 10, 2021
Indian River Lagoon Appropriations Bills Introduced to Florida House
Tallahassee - District 52 Representative Thad Altman (R) has introduced five appropriation bills totaling $5,321,500 to the 2021 Florida House session that will directly benefit the Indian River Lagoon.
- HB 2143 - Melbourne Indian River Lagoon Baffle Boxes - $1,022,500 from the General Revenue Fund may be appropriated to the Department of Environmental Protection to fund the Melbourne Indian River Lagoon Baffle Boxes. The three baffle boxes will provide water quality treatment and sediment reduction for 311 acres of property developed prior to storm water treatment regulations that discharge to the Indian River Lagoon. The estimated pollutant load reduction is 3,313 pounds per year of total nitrogen and 553 pounds per year of total phosphorous.
- HB 2145 - Melbourne Harbor City Treatment Train Phase 1 Water Quality Improvements - $627,500 to the Department of Environmental Protection to fund the Melbourne Harbor City Treatment Train Phase 1 Water Quality Improvements.
- HB 2197 - Florida Tech - Restore Lagoon Inflow Research Project - $921,500 to the Department of Education to fund the Florida Tech - Restore Lagoon Inflow Research Project. The Florida Tech Indian River Lagoon Research Institute will continue work on solutions for improving water quality in the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) with the third phase of a multi-phase pilot project to investigate the intervention impacts of restoring historical ocean inflows to the IRL. The third phase will support comparative research, continued monitoring, and later stage design of a temporary test inflow system with associated permitting in coordination with FDEP.
- HB 2623 - Brevard County Indian River Lagoon FL-518 Bridge Muck Removal - $2,500,000 to the Department of Environmental Protection to fund the Brevard County Indian River Lagoon FL-518 (Eau Gallie Blvd.) Bridge Muck Removal. This project will remove muck accumulations from the Eau Gallie Causeway (State Road 518) area of the Indian River Lagoon via environmental restoration dredging. This area has about 250,000 cubic yards of decaying muck smothering 75 acres of Indian River Lagoon downstream of a large tributary discharge area recently restored/dredged by the SJRWMD. The project will reduce annual nitrogen flux by 10,476 pounds and phosphorous flux by 1,482 pounds, increasing oxygen, reducing blooms and fish kills.
- HB 2861 - Ocean Research and Conservation Association Kilroy Monitoring Systems in the Indian River Lagoon - $250,000 to the Department of Environmental Protection to fund the Ocean Research and Conservation Association Kilroy Monitoring Systems in the Indian River Lagoon. Continued upkeep and maintenance of deployed real time water quality monitoring systems in 5 counties along the Indian River Lagoon. ORCA Kilroy Monitoring provides information on sources of nutrients fueling increased cyanobacteria production and providing information for measuring impact from improvements to discharges into canals and rivers.
Location: Estuary: Tallahassee: Brevard County
Source:
Indian River Lagoon News ENews Article Published by Indian River Lagoon Project on February 10, 2021. Retrieved on February 08, 2021.
Topic: Brevard County Locale
