Muck spreads like a cancer in Indian River Lagoon

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Florida lawmakers are “cautiously optimistic” they can get $20 million approved in the upcoming legislative session for environmentally-critical muck removal in the central and northern lagoon.

The muck, which has been described as black mayonnaise because of its consistency, is made up mainly of water, fine particles of soil or clay and rotting organic material.

It damages lagoon ecology by releasing nutrients that feed destructive algae bloom and by clouding the water when stirred up by storms, cutting off light seagrass needs for photosynthesis and survival.

“The lagoon could recover almost overnight if you get a clean sand bottom again, with shrimp and crabs and oysters coming back along with seagrass and game fish,” said Indian River County FIND Commissioner Paul Dritenbas. “Muck was a main topic of discussion at our last FIND meeting and I think we will be hearing a lot about it this year.”

The topic came to forefront in December when John Trefrey, a professor of marine and environmental chemistry at the Florida Institute of Technology, appeared before the Senate Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation to detail the ecological damage caused by muck.

A world-renowned expert on sedimentation, Trefrey said there has been an “incredible expansion of muck” since he came to the area in the 1980s due to fertilizer runoff and other causes.

“It’s like a cancer that has been spreading,” he said. “There are now between 5 and 7 million cubic yards of muck along the Brevard and Indian River County stretch of the lagoon. That’s enough to cover 1,000 football fields a yard high.”

Besides clouding the water and continually releasing nutrients that feed algae blooms, muck accumulates toxins and contains bacteria that deplete oxygen levels in the lagoon.

It smothers all life forms other than bacteria.

“Wherever the muck is, all habitable life is gone,” Trefrey said.

Despite the dire nature of the topic Trefrey managed to make his presentation lively and at times entertaining.

He passed out envelopes to each senator containing plastic bags of muck. When senators removed the bags to feel the consistency of the “black mayonnaise,” Trefrey issued a warning: “Please do not open the bags or we will all be leaving the room quite quickly as the smell of hydrogen sulfide is quite strong,” he said, eliciting laughter from the dais and audience (hydrogen sulfide is a colorless gas from the bacterial breakdown of organic matter with the foul odor of rotten eggs.)

Trefrey’s ultimate point was that the legislature needs to fund muck removal to restore lagoon health, and senators seemed responsive.

“We, as a body, are going to do everything we can to be helpful and supportive in this crisis,” said Committee Chairman Senator Charles S. Dean, Sr.

District 16 Senator Thad Altman, who represents southern Brevard County and northern Indian River County, had invited Trefrey to address the committee.

“When we needed someone to tell the story, I immediately thought of him.”

Altman says he is seeking $20 million for muck removal in this year’s budget but that more money will be needed long-term to get rid of the stinking gunk that blankets large portions of the lagoon bottom.

“It will take at least $100 million over a five-year period to fully address the problem,” Altman said. “But we can get started and make significant inroads with $20 million.”

The money would most likely come as part of a larger appropriation sought by the Select Committee on Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee Basin chaired by District 32 Senator Joe Negron, who represents parts of Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties.

“It will be vetted through the select committee and then through general governmental appropriates,” Altman said. “It is a long difficult process, but I am hopeful we will get some money for muck removal in the northern and central lagoon.”

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