IRLNews:State Funds Florida Tech IRL Inflow Study
The university will receive $921,500 for the Restore Lagoon Inflow (RLI) temporary demonstration project’s U.S. Army Corps permitting and design engineering phase (Phase III of the overall project).
The funding measures were sponsored in the Florida House by Rep. Randy Fine and Rep. Thad Altman and in the Florida Senate by Sen. Tom Wright and Sen. Debbie Mayfield, and championed by former Rep. Rene Plasencia.
As university researchers prepare the third phase of the IRL initiative and process the incoming data, next steps include permitting and continued research supporting the demonstration project at Port Canaveral involving the careful, temporary introduction of low-volume amounts of sea water into the Indian River Lagoon.
Initial findings of the Florida Tech-led team suggest the ailing estuary would benefit from a nudge of human intervention to help rejuvenate the natural processes that have historically aided the recycling and removal of excess nutrients.
IRL Inflow Study Executive Summary
Over 50 years of impacts from a growing human population have taken a tragic toll on the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) system. Excessive nutrients and all forms of pollution from human activity flow overland and through groundwater to the lagoon. The seagrasses, clams, and oysters are nearly gone, displaced by nutrient laden muck, polluted water, and algal blooms. With the loss of the majority of seagrasses, manatees are dying in record numbers as they are unable to find food. Fish populations that survived the 2011 superbloom now struggle to adjust to rapidly changing conditions. Algae that once unnoticeably cycled through the seasons in clear water now cloud the water, as blooms of one dominant species quickly die out only to be replaced by the next dominant species in an unbalanced, sometimes hypoxic or anoxic, high nutrient (eutrophic) system.
Water circulation in the lagoon is restricted on all sides, increasing risk of eutrophication and ecosystem collapse. Previous federal development activity supporting space and defense projects cut off the finger flows of Banana Creek, eliminating the northern connection of the Banana River Lagoon (BRL) to IRL. To the east, natural episodic connections between the coastal ocean and IRL system have been lost with the hardened development of the barrier islands, while the benefits of water circulation through the five maintained inlets are limited by the many causeways that restrict flow north and south. To the west, polluted water which once largely drained to the St. Johns River now flows to the IRL system.
Deliberate and timely restoration of lagoon hydrology can improve water quality and help restore the rapidly deteriorating lagoon ecosystem. Elected officials; local, state, and federal government agencies; and stakeholders in the IRL region are exploring a variety of approaches to help restore the lagoon. The Restore Lagoon Inflow Research project will help determine the viability of a permanent ocean inflow system as a potential additional tool to stabilize and restore the lagoon.
IRL Inflow Project Overview
The multi-phased Restore Lagoon Inflow Research project is envisioned to include the baseline monitoring, design, permitting, implementation, and modeling of a system providing temporary ocean inflow to IRL to help determine the viability of a permanent ocean inflow system. By improving understanding and management of the IRL system, the study results will also help to address several actions in the IRL National Estuary Program Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan, including specifically addressing action Connected Waters-5 which calls for a pilot project to assess the benefits and risks of enhanced ocean exchange with the lagoon.
For future phases to complete the project, the pilot system design developed in Phase 2 will be revised to include changes discussed in the pre-application meetings with the agencies and feedback from local stakeholders, and will be used to obtain the necessary permits. The project bid documents will then be created, the request for proposals drafted and sent out for bidding, and an award made for construction of the temporary inflow pilot system. The temporary inflow pump system will be constructed in accordance with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Resource Permit requirements.
The temporary inflow pump system is proposed to be operated for one year in parallel with continued focused research, monitoring, and modeling. This approach allows for data to be collected on changes due to smallscale ocean inflow at the study site compared to a reference site outside the influence of pumping, to directly assess impacts on focal biological communities and to validate dissolved oxygen (DO), nutrient, and chlorophyla (Chl-a) model predictions. The temporary pump system established for the project will be decommissioned at the end of the research period, with the piping and pump removed from the site. The results of the full Restore Lagoon Inflow Research project will be summarized to provide information and analysis to stakeholders and decision-makers on the viability of a permanent ocean inflow system.
IRL Inflow Study Video
Dr. Jeff Eble, Visiting Research Assistant Professor at the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT), speaking at the January 2022 Marine Resources Council Restore Lagoon Inflow Research Hybrid Seminar.
Dr. Jeff Eble is a Visiting Research Assistant Professor at the Florida Institute of Technology where for the last three years he has shared his love of science and nature with just about anyone that will listen. With experience both in the field and in the lab, Dr. Eble works to understand the processes shaping biodiversity, from genes to species, to help improve understanding and conservation of marine ecosystems.
