Stormwater Runoff Impacts

Rain is essential for our lawns, forests, and gardens to grow. It becomes a problem when we get too much rain in a short period of time, and the land surface that it hits can’t absorb it, running off our yards into street drains, canals, and ponds and eventually ends up in the lagoon. If it was purely rainwater when it entered the lagoon, it wouldn’t be a problem.

Unfortunately, stormwater absorbs pollutants along the way: dirt from your roof, Fertilizer from your lawn, oil from the streets, decaying vegetation, lawn clippings, leaves, soil, etc. These pollutants cause the problem.

So how big a problem can stormwater be for the Lagoon?

As you can see from the chart, stormwater is one of the major sources of pollution to our Lagoon – even a bigger problem than sewage spills. So what is being done to fix the problem? We pay a stormwater utility fee to the County and City Utilities to maintain our stormwater systems, but that is primarily used for installing and maintaining pipes and canals. Your Save Our Indian River Lagoon sales tax dollars are being invested in projects that remove unwanted pollutants from the stormwater before they enter the Lagoon. Baffle boxes are installed in the stormwater lines, to filter out the solids while allowing clear rainwater to flow to the lagoon.

What can you do to reduce the impact of Stormwater pollution on the Lagoon?

Here are some things you can do in your yard to reduce polluted rainwater runoff:

1. Direct your roof drain spouts to non-hardened surfaces like rain gardens, turfgrass, rain barrels, swales, or French drains.
2. Keep grass clippings out of the storm drains by blowing them back onto your grass, off the street, driveway, and walks.
3. Replace asphalt or concrete driveways and walkways with pervious pavers or other surfaces that absorb rainwater.
4. Clean up pet waste
5. Reduce fertilization:
   • Follow County fertilizer restrictions.
   • Use organic nitrogen fertilizer.
   • Use Florida Native plants that don’t require fertilizer.
6. Don’t water your lawn during rainstorms, install an automatic shutoff.