The Indian River County Commission was slow to pass a strong fertilizer ordinance to help prevent poisonous lawn chemicals from polluting the Indian River Lagoon. It took a year-long battle, continued deterioration of the estuary ecosystem and several marathon meetings that packed the commission chamber with hundreds of passionate supporters of effective regulation to move them in the right direction.
To their credit, in August 2013, the county commissioners finally voted in favor of putting in place a Sarasota-style ordinance of the type that has helped restore bays and estuaries on Florida’s west coast, and now it seems their action was a catalyst that triggered a cascade of similar regulation in adjacent counties and cities.
Five counties border the 156-mile-long lagoon that, at least until recently, was the most biodiverse in the nation, with more than 4,000 species of plants and animals living in its fertile mix of salt and fresh water.
Martin County passed strong fertilizer regulation way back in 2011, but it was an outlier, ahead of its time but a couple of years. Several other counties passed the State Model Fertilizer Ordinance, a weak set of regulations crafted more for the benefit of the fertilizer and lawncare industries than for the dolphins, manatees and game fish that live in the lagoon, or the people who use and treasure it.
Prospects for effective regulation seemed to be diminishing and dying a slow death in the summer of 2013 when public pressure and their own better angels convinced four IRC commissioners to vote in favor of a strong enforceable ordinance to help keep nitrogen and phosphorus out of the estuary.
Their action was an important victory for Vero Beach’s environment, economy and way of life, in and of itself. But it was also more than that because when other counties saw what our conservative commissioners had done, they rethought their positions and modified their conclusions as well.
Five months after the epic meeting at which the IRC ordinance was finally approved, the St. Lucie County Commission voted to strengthen its ordinance to include the same provisions contained in our ordinance, requiring training for fertilizer applicators and the use of slow-release nitrogen, prohibiting the application of fertilizer within 10 feet of open water and banning the use of any nitrogen fertilizer during the summer rainy season when heavy downpours are more likely to wash the chemicals into the lagoon.
Three months after the change of heart in St. Lucie County, in March 2014, the Brevard county commission took the same action, putting Sarasota-style regulations in place.
Volusia County followed suit last month, passing the State Model Ordinance, but notifying the state of its intent to add the stronger provisions after a short waiting period.
With that action, the counties along the lagoon were united in their determination to protect the waterway that defines this region and contributes more than $3 billion dollars a year to the collective economy.
When the Orchid Town Council passed a strong ordinance a month or so ago, it became the fourth and final waterside city in IRC to do so, completing the protection of the lagoon along its entire Indian River County length.
The same thing is happening in other counties. In March and April, Port St. Lucie, Stuart, Indialantic and Fort Pierce all passed effective regulation that aligns with the ordinances in their respective counties.
In Martin County, three of four municipalities have committed to the strong version of the fertilizer ordinance, with the city of Jupiter the lone holdout. All three cities in St. Lucie County are onboard, and four out of five in Indian River County have joined the effort to save the lagoon, with inland Fellsmere the only exception.
In Brevard County, 13 of 16 municipalities have passed or committed to pass an ordinance as strong as or even stronger than the one our commissioners enacted just eight months ago.
Fertilizer runoff, which feeds algae blooms that cloud the water and smother sea life, is far from the only threat to the health of the Indian River Lagoon, but it is encouraging to see such unity among local governments taking action to address this one problem, and our commissioners deserve a round of applause for leading the way.
Now, hopefully, they will turn their attention to dealing with the at least equally damaging issue of septic tank pollution that is flooding the water with nitrogen, nasty bacteria, pharmaceutical drugs and other household chemicals.