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Background
The water quality of a body of water is a function of where its
water comes from. If water falling from the sky is considered
good quality, then rainfall is good for the Lagoon. But if that
rainwater falls on land and runs into the lagoon, then the water
(stormwater) will carry “stuff” with it into the Lagoon. City
storm sewer systems, direct residential runoff, large commercial
tracts and processes all can end up in the Lagoon.
That “stuff” in the runoff is the focus of a national program
--The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed the
federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES),
a stormwater permit
program which controls water pollution by regulating point
sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United
States. Point sources are discrete conveyances such as pipes or
man-made ditches. Individual homes that are connected to a
municipal system, use a septic system, or do not have a surface
discharge do not need an NPDES permit; however, industrial,
municipal, and other facilities must obtain permits if their
discharges go directly to surface waters.
In most cases, the
federal NPDES permit program is administered by the State, and
Florida’s is found at
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/stormwater/npdes/
The local Indian River Lagoon (IRL) BMAP info can be found at
ftp://ftp.dep.state.fl.us/pub/water/BMAP/IndianRiverLagoon/IRL%20BMAP%20Factsheet%2007-8-09.pdf
As in all things
“government”, it is
Important to note:
The Florida NPDES stormwater permitting program is separate from
the State's
stormwater/environmental resource permitting programs
(found under
Part IV, Chapter 373, F.S. (593KB) and
Chapter 62-25, F.A.C. and local stormwater/water quality
programs, which have their own regulations and permitting
requirements.
While water quality depends on what goes into it, a good
indicator of good water quality is the condition of the seagrass
in that water. That’s why
there was a “Seagrass 101” presentation at the Indian River
Lagoon BMAP Technical Meeting.
We note that seagrass distribution and success is a function of
the amount of light it receives.
Things that affect
light levels are:
Suspended (micro) algae
Total suspended solids
Epiphytic growth
Windrows of floating (macro) algae
What
we learned
There is a state goal to comply with the NPDES and reduce the
amount of pollutants.
A scientific
determination of the maximum amount of a given pollutant that a
surface water can absorb daily and still meet the water quality
standards that protect human health and aquatic life. (TMDL)
The focus for the IRL is the levels of nitrogen and phosphorous,
thus there is a goal to reduce the total (TN and TP) number of
pounds of these elements in stormwater that enters the Lagoon.
This is done through projects that NPDES –permitted contributors
and municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4 - publicly-owned
conveyance or system of stormwater conveyances (i.e., ditches,
curbs, catch basins, etc. can undertake.
The remainder of the meeting was focused on projects for
government and industry to implement to meet reduction goals.
Complete meeting materials are available on the FTP site (ftp://ftp.dep.state.fl.us/pub/water/BMAP/IndianRiverLagoon/)
including the PowerPoint presentations and the IRL TMDL
document. Please contact Amy Tracy, Basin Coordinator, if
you have questions.
As a result of these meetings and program, you can expect to see
the IRL listed here:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/tmdl/index.htm
The sub-basin meeting for the Banana River Lagoon will be in
October. We will post the details when the meeting site is
determined.
If you think that Friends of Ulumay membership would be
interested in and benefit from a presentation of seagrasses,
please let us know and we will look for a speaker.
Contributed by David Biega
July 11, 2009
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