Are Sewage Spills a Major Source of Lagoon Pollution?
- No, not today! But before 1996, when the 1990 IRL System and Basin Act took effect, they sure were. Before that, Brevard’s sewage treatment plants routinely disposed of approximately 30 MILLION GALLONS of partially treated sewage directly into the Lagoon EVERY DAY. Thankfully that ended in 1996.
- Today, there are infrequent, and still UNWELCOME, releases of sewage but combined they are less than 0.01% of the pre-1996 amount.
Working to Eliminate Repair Broken Pipes:
- There are various causes of these releases: many are due to broken pipes due to construction. Some are due to utility failures and equipment malfunctions.
- Some are caused by major rainstorms when ground water can seeps into broken lateral sewage pipes and overload the system requiring release.
- The Save Our Indian Rive Lagoon (SOIRL) ½¢ sales tax program is using smoke testing to locate broken pipes. To date 299 miles of pipes have been tested and 1,036 of the 1,247 identified leaks have been fixed.
Healing Our Lagoon is a “Yes, And” effort that requires understanding and correcting the multiple sources of Lagoon pollution. Thankfully we began dramatically reducing pollution from sewage treatment facilities some time ago but there still is more to do.
What You Can Do Today:
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