Restoring Our Rain’s Natural Path

Join us for our January Brown Bag Lunch, with guest speaker Joanie Regan, to learn about the benefit of Low Impact Development on the Lagoon.

If we had to pick one word for our Lagoon’s woes, impervious would be a top contender! Throughout the Indian River Lagoon (and the world) we have been covering our Earth with impervious surfaces (i.e asphalt and concrete) in the form of roads, parking lots, buildings, sidewalks. In addition, we have been channeling rainfall into storm drains and pipes. The pure volume of storm runoff, with its brew of pollutants, overwhelms our receiving waters so that we can no longer swim and fish safely. Low Impact Development (LID) retrofits the built environment, removing impervious surfaces and adding green infrastructure to allow the rain to drain into the soil as close to where it hits the ground. LID allows rain to replenish our aquifers, keeping saltwater intrusion at bay, and minimizes pollutants from entering our Lagoon.

Receiving a degree in oceanography from FIT, Joanie Regan is the Stormwater Utility Manager for the City of Cocoa Beach. Joanie has been a Lagoon resident since 1980 and is on the board for MRC, as well as the secretary for the Cocoa Beach Surfrider Chapter. In addition, Joanie is an advisor to Cocoa Beach’s Land Management Committee, which includes piloting Cocoa Beach Thousand Island clean-ups and beach dune plantings. She spends her free time surfing, paddling and exploring in and around the Lagoon!