DEP INVESTS NEARLY $7 MILLION FOR MINUTEMEN CAUSEWAY IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS TO BENEFIT INDIAN RIVER LAGOON

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 29, 2016

CONTACT: DEP Press Office, 850.245.2112, DEPNews@dep.state.fl.us 

MINUTEMEN CAUSEWAY IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS TO BENEFIT INDIAN RIVER LAGOON

~DEP awards $7 million for projects to reduce nutrients entering Indian River Lagoon~

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has awarded nearly $7 million in funding for improvements to the Minutemen Causeway in Brevard County's Cocoa Beach. These sewer rehabilitation and stormwater improvement projects will help protect the health of the Indian River Lagoon by reducing nutrients and treating stormwater runoff. 

"Funding for these important Minutemen Causeway improvement projects helps us to restore and protect the Indian River Lagoon," said Trina Vielhauer, director of the Division of Water Restoration Assistance. "The combination of projects will have a big effect by significantly reducing pollutants and improving water quality of one of the state's most valuable natural resources."

The city of Cocoa Beach was awarded $5.1 million in funding to repair and replace sewer mains and install state-of-the-art stormwater treatment systems in watershed sub-basins along the Minutemen Causeway. The project will help to reduce nutrients entering the Banana River Lagoon, part of the Indian River Lagoon system, a designated Estuary of National Significance. 

Cocoa Beach was also awarded $1.7 million in funding for the Minutemen Corridor Stormwater Low Impact Design and Streetscape Improvement project, which will install urban planters and rain gardens, tree wells, exfiltration vaults and pervious pavers to allow stormwater runoff to percolate back into the barrier island sands, mimicking the natural water cycle that existed before Cocoa Beach was developed. The project will help remove nutrients and treat stormwater flowing into the Banana River Lagoon. 

One of Cocoa Beach's oldest roadways, Minutemen Causeway is the main street corridor, running east-west across the Atlantic coastal barrier island.

To further improve the lagoon’s water quality, the department is identifying additional wastewater and stormwater projects that reduce the amount of nutrients entering the lagoon and dredge projects that remove muck from the bottom of the lagoon, which also feeds algae blooms.

For this fiscal year, nearly $26 million from the Florida First budget will be invested in future water-quality-improvement projects in the Indian River Lagoon, which includes a $21.5 million muck dredging project.