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Topic Title: Need rain but kind of hate to wish for it
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Created On: 04/18/2020 07:00 AM
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 04/18/2020 07:00 AM
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scombrid

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Water in the lagoon at Rockledge is the clearest it has been since spring of 2011 or maybe even 2007. But we need rain something terrible. Problem is the fertilizer guys are working overtime in our hood. All that pyrodinium is just sitting out there begging for some nitrogen like a dog drooling for a treat.

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 04/18/2020 10:29 AM
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Cole

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We lucked out with the slow drizzle I hope.

The summertime ban seems to be working, just imagine what the rivers would look like if there was no fertilizer.

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 04/18/2020 08:34 PM
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6ScoopsMcGruntington

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Got a little rain today.
I don't remember the indian river in Cocoa/ Rockledge ever being this clear!
Even with the wind blowing hard like it has been, visibility was still excellent.
The grass looks amazing as well.
 04/19/2020 09:30 AM
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Cole

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Thanks to those of you who were wise enough to ban fertilizer in the summer and to people like Mayor Ben in Cocoa Beach who helped usher in a more bio friendly fertilizer for the Cocoa Beach golf course. It's looking like every little bit helps.

Now to those of you who are still stacking that crap on your yards in the summer: STOP IT! Quit being assholes.

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 04/19/2020 11:00 AM
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cheaterfiveo

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yeah now lets jump on cities and the county for allowing poop water to overflow into the water system, huge fines and civil penalties need enforced
 04/20/2020 06:41 AM
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scombrid

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Another thing that the lack of rain has helped. No poop water overflows. Now if we could quit wasting the lagoon tax on baffle boxes and get people to clean up their act and not let the storm water get contaminated in the first place. Spend that tax money fixing the poop water infrastructure. Water is so clear in Rockledge right now that you can actually sight fish. But it won't stay that way. We saw what the abnormally wet winters of 2015 and 2016 got us followed by the Irma and other 2017 summer deluges.

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 04/21/2020 07:55 PM
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Cole

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I need someone to explain a leaking septic tank to me. I've worked on them before and anything that escaped soaked into the ground and seemed to filter the way nature intended. What am I missing here?

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 04/21/2020 08:13 PM
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HAPDigital

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Originally posted by: Cole

I need someone to explain a leaking septic tank to me. I've worked on them before and anything that escaped soaked into the ground and seemed to filter the way nature intended. What am I missing here?


Cheater fishes in it and charges "6 hundy" to go with him.
 04/21/2020 09:16 PM
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6ScoopsMcGruntington

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A leak in the tank lets waste bypass the tank and drain field.
The tank and drain field is where microbes have time to do work.
 04/22/2020 07:14 AM
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scombrid

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Septic tanks are a source of nutrient loading even if they are working correctly, unless they are a super fancy special type. They are just designed to handle solids and remove pathogens. Stuff needs to sit in the tank to break down. A badly leaking septic system can contribute pathogens to surface waters if the water table is high. Back in Virginia there were a lot of areas closed to shell fish harvest because failing septics contributed a lot of ecoli. The amount of nutrient loading depends on proximity to surface water and local groundwater dynamics. Neighborhoods like "Breeze Swept" between US 1 and the lagoon up in Rockledge and a canal communities like on Merritt Island are hot. The current county plan for septic to sewer conversions targets the septic systems in areas with the most outdated tanks/drainfields and most prone to loading nearby surface waters.

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 04/22/2020 08:20 AM
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Cole

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When they flood, does the crap bubble at the surface? Or does the rising aquifer deposit the soiled water through springs in the river?

I manage 160 stage and groundwater sites all over Central Florida and the ground water sites are very slow to react to any type of rainfall, in fact many barely react at all to even hurricane level rain. Are the coastal aquifers different other that salt intrusion of course?

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 04/22/2020 08:22 AM
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Cole

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And I'm not talking about the Floridan, it takes an eon to change those levels.

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 04/22/2020 12:31 PM
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scombrid

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Moves through saturated soils or bubbles up and moves in surface water in an Irma type situation. DEP hired these guys to do an analysis. Within 200m of water is a major criteria for loading. . That water can be the canals all through Palm Bay or the lagoon itself. Too many septic tanks too close to drainage are a major cause of Sykes Creek always looking like pfffffftttttttt.

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Edited: 04/22/2020 at 12:31 PM by scombrid
 04/22/2020 12:32 PM
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scombrid

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DEP put out an interactive map with click-able areas showing their strategy for addressing the worst areas. Darned if I can find it on this machine though.

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 04/22/2020 12:36 PM
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scombrid

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And when Irma put everything from Immokalee to Lehigh Acres to Bonita Springs under water the local loading to the Caloosahatchee was insane. The folks over there want to blame everything on Lake O discharges but it was lake O discharge rolling on top of a bunch of swamped sept systems and sewer overflows.

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 04/23/2020 06:09 AM
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scombrid

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Had a nice short paddle this morning 6km into the wind and 6km downwind for the return. Return leg was straight down the channel. Could see the bottom the whole way. I haven't seen it that clear since June 2004 nearing the end of a long dry spell and just before the hurricanes got cranked up that year. Haven't seen much grass yet. Lots and lots of caulerpa which is not as good as grass but much better than red drift algae. It's a pretty solid carpet of the stuff out there.

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 04/23/2020 06:59 AM
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tom

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Just a couple notes: we're entering our second round of Basin Management Action Plans with FDEP for the Lagoon. These are the Plans where nutrient reduction allocations are rolled out and cities and county put in their projects to meet them. Brevard has the 1/2 cent tax to fund these planned projects and has been doing a remarkably good job. Some of the clarity we're currently experiencing may be related. Going to make a couple short posts because of lack of line breaks.

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Edited: 04/23/2020 at 07:15 AM by tom
 04/23/2020 07:09 AM
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tom

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About septic tanks, they're designed to protect human health, not the environment. IF you live on the end of a 2 mile dirt road surrounded by acres and acres of pasture or whatever, a septic tank is a good thing. If you live in a neighborhood, septic is bad. Not bad in and of itself but because it's essentially unregulated. When was the last time the "septic tank inspector" was at your place? Never. There aren't any. Compared to sewer, these facilities are permitted with FDEP, trained licensed operators etc., and there are limits on their discharge. Regulated. Sure, they have problem too, often related to the idea of $$$. They're essentially underfunded. A second problem with sewer is that "reuse water" has no set level of nutrients allowable. This needs to change by rule. Advocate that with your elected representatives. Just one more thing, retrofitting septic to sewer is expensive: Martin Co., way ahead of Brevard, was figuring around $15K/unit without any upgrades at the treatment plant. Lots of funding for septic-to-sewer projects from National Estuary Program this year in Brevard. Yay!

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 04/23/2020 07:14 AM
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tom

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About fertilizer, if you're using it grow food it's one thing. If you're growing grass it's another. Nobody on here eats grass, at least the St. Auggie kind. Fertilizer doesn't need to fall into the Lagoon or ditch to be a problem. Putting it in the watershed anywhere IS a problem, I'll spare you 20 paragraphs of why. Fertilizer, like septic, is essentially unregulated. Fertilizer inspector? Right. If you want to do something to personally help the Lagoon, stop using the stuff! Quick question, how much does it cost to NOT fertilize your yard? Fight the chemical industrial lawn complex!!!

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 04/24/2020 08:51 AM
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Cole

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Originally posted by: scombrid

And when Irma put everything from Immokalee to Lehigh Acres to Bonita Springs under water the local loading to the Caloosahatchee was insane. The folks over there want to blame everything on Lake O discharges but it was lake O discharge rolling on top of a bunch of swamped sept systems and sewer overflows.


They dump "reclaimed" (they have an official title for it but I forget) sewage on the sod fields next to Oak Creek on Micco Bluff Road in Bassinger. The smell is anything but reclaimed. Oak Creek flows directly into the Kissimmee River just north of highway 98. That area has cost me more pairs of shoes than I care to remember. Nasty stuff.



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I was right.
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