Scientists are concerned about the health of the Indian River Lagoon following Hurricane Irma.
- Water, nutrients and sewage was dumped into Indian River
- John Trefry is concerned that algae blooms, fish kills could happen
The storm dumped a tremendous amount of water, nutrients and even sewage into the estuary.
“When all these nutrients come in, it is possible we could have an algae bloom and oxygen event, most of our canals have very low oxygen in them,” said John Trefry, a professor at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne.
Trefry, who has been studying the Indian River since 1978, says low oxygen in the water can lead to fish kills and endanger other marine life in the lagoon.
Brevard County officials say they were forced to dump sewage into canals that feed the lagoon because their wastewater system was overflowing due to Hurricane Irma.
Otherwise, county officials say wastewater could have backed up into homes.
They say they have seen stopped pumping wastewater into canals, but residents living along Anchor Drive, Windward Way, Inwood Way, Spinnaker Point, Venetian Way and Lansing Island Drive are advised to stay away from nearby canals.
That wastewater, along with harmful nutrients on lawns, are making their way into the Indian River Lagoon, which has been suffering over the last several years from algae blooms, dead dolphins, manatees and fish kills.
Trefry says this needs to be a wakeup call for Space Coast leaders to build larger reservoirs to hold wastewater so something like this does not happen again.
Annually, the Indian River Lagoon has a multi-billion dollar impact on the local economy, employing thousands of people in Brevard County.