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 RLI 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 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 Webinar Video
Dr. Jeff Eble, Visiting Research Assistant Professor at the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT), speaking at Marine Resources Council's January Lunch & Learn Hybrid Seminar on FIT’s Restore Lagoon Inflow Research project.
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.
