INDIAN RIVER LAGOON DAY | NEW BOOSTER STATION| WATER MAIN

Celebrate the Beautiful Indian River Lagoon on October 18

The City of Melbourne, the City of West Melbourne, the Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department, Lagoon Life and the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program invite you to join us for Indian River Lagoon Day, a fun-filled day focused on celebrating the importance of the Indian River Lagoon and the world around us. The event will take place on Saturday, October 18, from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Front Street Park, 2210 Front Street, Melbourne. Admission is free.

Environmental exhibitors will be present to showcase a variety of restoration projects, educational efforts, available citizen-science projects and volunteer activities. Food trucks, live music by Miranda Realino, arts and craft vendors, a bounce house, games and other activities for children will also be available. The City of Melbourne Streets and Stormwater Division will also be present with their vac and camera trucks for visitors to check out. There will be a raffle at 12 p.m. and another one at 1:30 p.m. Raffle tickets will be available at the City of Melbourne’s welcome booth and at each vendor table. Interactions and questions with the vendor tables will earn you 1 ticket. You must be present to win a prize. 

A Hook Kids on Fishing clinic will take place from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. for kids 5 – 15 years old. Advance registration is required. For details, go to the Anglers for Conservation website. We’d like to give a big shoutout to Custom Tintz for helping to sponsor the stage this year.

Monthly Water Usage and Raw/Finished Water Quality Statistics

New Water Distribution Booster Pump Station in Indian Harbour Beach

A new, recently completed water distribution booster pump station in Indian Harbour Beach is already improving water service to beachside communities south of the Pineda Causeway.

Booster pump stations are installed in large water distribution networks like Melbourne’s in order to maintain consistent water pressure and water quality throughout the system.

The new station features variable speed motors that power three pumps to maintain a constant rate of water pressure in the distribution system at all times — even when there is a sudden surge in demand due to a water main break or a large fire that has to be extinguished. An existing 2-million-gallon storage tank that was constructed in 2001 will be staying in service as part of the new system.  In addition to providing better service, the new station is also much more energy-efficient than the 40-year-old station it replaced.  Once the old pump station and equipment were demolished and removed, the City of Melbourne took additional steps to improve the appearance of the property surrounding the station. Crews installed new sod, planted new trees, added a stormwater drainage system, and installed new sidewalks and fencing. Construction of the Indian Harbour Beach booster station is part of the City of Melbourne’s larger plan to improve water service and increase redundancy on the barrier island. A third water transmission main from the mainland to the barrier island was recently completed and put into service. Crews have also been replacing old, cast-iron water mains to modernize the distribution network in Satellite Beach.

Since completion, electricity usage has been reduced by as much as 25%.

Volunteers Clean Up Over 1400 Pieces of Trash at Ballard Park

On Saturday, September 20, 2025, the City of Melbourne’s ECO Division, in collaboration with Keep Brevard Beautiful, Inc. (KBB), and the Ocean Conservancy hosted the 40th Annual International Coastal Cleanup. The International Coastal Cleanup began when communities rallied together with the common goal of collecting and documenting the trash littering their coastline. On that morning, 39 volunteers cleaned up 1,401 pieces of trash totaling 477 pounds at Ballard Park in Melbourne. The volunteers worked tirelessly all morning picking up every bit of trash they could find in the park and in the water along the park.

The top five items collected were: 214 cigarette butts; 193 food wrappers; 64 plastic bottle caps; 69 pieces of foam packaging; and  357 tiny pieces of plastic, foam, glass and paper.

The clean-up event was part of a worldwide effort to help eliminate trash from beaches and waterways. More information about International Coastal Cleanup is available from the Ocean Conservancy. To learn more about litter clean-up events in Brevard County, contact the ECO Division at recycle@mlbfl.org or visit Keep Brevard Beautiful.

September 2025 Data

Utility Operations Monthly Summary

Water Main Improvements at E Avenue B

On the evening of Tuesday, September 23 and into the following morning, City crews from Water Distribution and Water Production worked with Rangeline contractors to install a line stop on the 20-inch water main crossing the Indian River Lagoon at E Avenue B. This will allow Water Production to replace chemical disinfectant injectors, which is important for water quality. During the shutdown, Luchetti Construction also installed a new 20-inch gate valve, which will make future replacements much easier and eliminate the need for a complex shutdown.

Wastewater Treatment Operational Summary and Reuse Statistics

September 2025 Data

FPL commercial demand reduction credit: $5,772.84 (8/18/25 - 9/17/25)

FPL commercial demand reduction credit: $4,108.44 (8/20/25 - 9/19/25)

A total of 66.54 million gallons of reclaimed water was produced during September, representing 24% of total plant flows.

For more information about this newsletter, please contact the Melbourne Environmental Community Outreach Division at (321) 608-5080 or send an e-mail to megan.ruben@mlbfl.org