My assumption is that far more of the pollutants are now coming from developments to the west such as Viera, etc. The populations have exploded along I-95 and all of that runoff goes eventually into the lagoon. Either through direct runoff or from SJWM canal releases.

I think everyone should curb the fertilizer and pesticide application regardless if you live beachside or not.

For Viera specifically all the runoff goes west into the St. John's river but I'm not sure where it goes from there or how long the lifespan of a pollutant is.

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Heavy is sign of reliability

John is on it. Fertilizer is nitrogen (and phosphorus in some cases) brought into the watershed from "somewhere else". Doesn't belong here. Whether it reaches the Lagoon directly as runoff, or indirectly as the primary productivity (plants) it produces, it gets there. Shi..., um, stuff flows downhill and downhill from anywhere in the watershed is the Lagoon. Once there, it's the source of muck that releases the nitrogen. It's an avalanche of fertilizer and plants built up over 50 years. And it's still flowing. Rhetorical question, how much does it cost you to not fertilize your yard?

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add a signature since I'm here in profile anyway

All the houses around me are either perfect st. Aggy or brown beach grass. The ones with the perfect yards which is about 90% of the hood are also the ones who dive, surf, boat, fish BUT still have to have a perfect yard. It is something in their mindset, Green yard = success, Scrub Yard = lazy, loser, etc. ....No one will be able to change their mindset and again these are indiv. who use the waterways???...........what about the millions that live away from the coast or the ones who do not boat/fish/surf, etc and live in Brevard? . My guess is they really do not care about redtide, algae blooms, IRL fish kills...if you took a sample of the population across the state, I do not think it is in their top 10 things to worry about or commit to change... . Heck my surfing/fishing/boating neighbors fertilize & insecticide run their sprinkelers almost every day. But again nice green yard = success, got your life together, doing well, not LAZY, etc. BUT those who conserve water, have natural yards etc. are looked down upon...until this mentality changes green yards forever, Massey signs on freshly sprayed yards. Bloom and Doom.

Edited: 10/17/2018 at 10:26 AM by SurferMic

That is Truth Brother. The mindset needs to change- tax incentives could help do that but education is the key.


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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean