Two high-tech water monitoring systems critical for repairing and protecting the lagoon will soon be deployed, opening a window into the waterway’s complex ecology and allowing scientists and policy-makers to detect and track pollution in real time.
The legislature allotted $2 million in the past session for Ocean Research and Conservation Association to install 25 Kilroy sensors at the outfalls of major canals and creeks in Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties.
The money has been transferred from the state treasury to the Department of Environmental Protection and ORCA is working out project details with DEP.
“Anytime these funds are appropriated, the money has to come through one of the state agencies and DEP has been selected to handle the funding for the Kilroys,” says Robin Dannahower, ORCA’s vice president of marketing and public relations. “We are negotiating a contract with them that incudes details of the equipment and operations as well as the timing when funds will be released.
“We hope to have everything settled shortly so we can have the Kilroys in the water as soon as possible, but we can’t order the equipment until the funds are released. Best-case scenario would be Kilroys in the water in 90 days.”
ORCA scientists invented the Kilroy in 2009 and the devices are assembled at the organization’s engineering depart in Satellite Beach, but expensive components have to be ordered from manufacturers.
Kilroys measure water temperature, flow, salinity, oxygen content, acidy, murkiness and nitrogen content 24 hours a day and transmit the information to ORCA’s website, where anyone interested can study the data
ORCA placed the first Kilroy in the lagoon in November 2011 and currently has 13 in operation.
“Our strategy is to find out which canals carry the most pollution,” says Dannahower. “It is amazing how you can pinpoint problem areas. When we see pollution coming in at high level, we can overlay land use maps to look for the source. There might be a huge strip mall that is contributing petrochemicals or large amounts of agricultural land [with fertilizer and pesticide runoff]. We are the only scientific organization that has attempted to work into the canals.”
Optical scanning nitrogen sensors originally deployed on the Kilroy platform malfunctioned, but Dannahower says those have been replaced with chemical sensors that are reliable.
Nitrogen from fertilizer runoff, leaking septic tanks and other sources is one of the main chemical pollutants degrading the lagoon, so tracking it effectively is important.
“People are starting to understand monitoring can actually make a difference if we can pinpoint the sources of pollution,” says ORCA founder and chief scientist Edie Widder.
Meanwhile, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute has a $2.56 million project underway to place nine Land/Ocean Biochemical Observatories (LOBOs) in the lagoon and the St. Lucie Estuary.
“In April we received a grant of $559,295 from the HBOI Foundation,” says Harbor Branch researcher Dennis Hanisak. “We are in the process of receiving $2 million from a state legislative request approved in June 2014 and administered through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
“The HBOI Foundation funds will support the purchase, installation, and operation of LOBOs at two sites in the IRL in Indian River County [one south of Sebastian River and Inlet, one south of Vero Beach] and one in northern St. Lucie County [near Fort Pierce]. We will also maintain one current site in the IRL near HBOI.
“The six sites supported with state funding will include four sites in the St. Lucie Estuary, and two in the lagoon. The first three sites should be up and running before the end of the year. The southern sites should be in place by the April.”
Hanisak says Harbor Branch is looking to capture real-time, high-accuracy and high-resolution water quality data at ecologically important sites
“[Data from the 10 LOBOs will] enable all of us – scientists, managers, educators, students, and the public – to better observe long-term ecosystem changes and those driven by events such as freshwater discharges, algal blooms, storms, and droughts. We will also be able to use the LOBO data to create predictive models for the lagoon’s water quality over time. These models will provide policy-makers with vital information to make informed decisions about our local waterways. I think the more we can understand the lagoon, the better we can manage it, not just for 2014, but for the future generations.”