By Jim Waymer
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced $389 million in state grants Tuesday to improve Florida water quality and supply.
The water projects primarily focus on reducing nitrogen and phosphorus into the Indian River Lagoon, Caloosahatchee River, Biscayne Bay and other state coastal waters. Those two nutrients can trigger harmful toxic algae blooms. Combined, the projects are expected to remove 1.1 million additional pounds of nitrogen and 286,000 pounds of phosphorus.
“These are going to make a big difference across the state,” DeSantis told a crowd of about 100 people at the Ted Moorhead Lagoon House in Palm Bay. “We have shown a commitment to being good stewards of our natural resources.”
The grants will be administered through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Projects aimed at improving the quality of the Indian River Lagoon totaled $100 million. Another $25 million was directed toward the Caloosahatchee River watershed and $20 million toward cleansing Biscayne Bay’s waters.
Project highlights from the more than 60 grants include:
- $11.3 million – Vero Beach Water Reclamation Facility construction to produce high-quality reclaimed water meeting advanced wastewater quality levels.
- $8.6 million – Melbourne Grant Street Water Reclamation Facility Water Quality Improvement Project to upgrade waste treatment processes and reduce nutrients entering Crane Creek and the Indian River Lagoon.
- $5 million – Palm Bay Septic-to-Sewer Project to connect 416 properties to the municipal sewage system, reducing nutrient pollution in the Indian River Lagoon.
- $13.5 million – Fort Myers Wastewater Treatment Facility Upgrade Project to eliminate surface water discharges to the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary.
- $14.7 million – Brackish groundwater projects in the Central Florida Water Initiative Area, including funding for Tohopekaliga Water Authority and Polk Regional Water Cooperative to utilize the brackish, Lower Floridan Aquifer as a water supply, reducing dependence on freshwater sources.
- One of the main goals of DEP’s grant program is to improve seagrasses. Seagrass is the base of the food web but has yet to recover from severe algae blooms that hit the Indian River Lagoon in 2011. As a result, thousands of manatees have died since of malnutrition related ailments.
- But resource managers say it will take another $5 billion and 20 years to save the stressed ecosystem. Advocates say the time and expense are worth it: The lagoon brings $7.6 billion annually to the six counties that border the waterway. It’s one of several reasons why Brevard supporters say they want a local lagoon sales tax back on the ballot before the tax expires in 2026. The 10-year tax is expected to raise more than $540 million for muck dredging, sewage and stormwater fixes and other lagoon cleanup projects.
DeSantis pledges $100 million toward Indian River Lagoon Revitalization
By Gregg Pallone
DeSantis said the goal of the Indian River Lagoon Protection Program is to fund water quality improvement projects like upgrading septic-to-sewer conversions, reducing harmful stormwater runoff into the lagoon and muck removal.
He made the announcement at the Ted Moorhead Lagoon House in Palm Bay, home of the Marine Resources Council.
“We also recognize the importance of the Indian River Lagoon,” DeSantis said. “We’ve put huge resources into this, and we’ve had a lot of success already, and we’re continuing to build on the success.”
Overall, the governor is awarding over $300 million in grants across the state and will eventually remove 1.1 million pounds of nitrogen and 286,000 pounds of phosphorous each year that produce seagrass-killing algae blooms and oxygen stifling muck.
A total of 21 projects will be funded across the state, including 10 in Brevard County — which includes a nutrient removal process set to be implemented at the Grant Street Water Reclamation Facility in Melbourne.
City leaders requested $8.6 million from the state to help pay for the $17.6 million project.
The Lagoon Protection Program falls right in line with the Marine Resources Council’s mission to restore the lagoon.
“Water quality is really the name of the game, so if we can treat water on land before it hits the lagoon, and also have projects that are lagoon based, we need the funding for that,” MRC Executive Director Laura Wilson said.
The Indian River Lagoon is the most biologically diverse waterway on the continent and serves as one of the main economic catalysts on Florida’s East Coast.
