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New Target in Florida Water Wars: Fertilizers


July 16, 2014 | WMFE, Orlando - In the fight to restore Florida's struggling waterways, the focus is turning to fertilizers. For the first time this summer Brevard County and most of its municipalities are banning the use of fertilizers containing the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorous.

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[Photo:  Titusville Mayor Jim Tulley says the city opted for a fertilizer restriction because the Indian River Lagoon is in trouble. By Amy Green]

Summertime afternoon showers are good for lawns and landscapes. But as the water drains into the waterways it carries with it fertilizers and nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous.

Scientists believe nutrients are behind some of the worst problems plaguing the state's waterways. They work in the water in the same way they work in your yard, nourishing algal blooms, brown tides and other problems.

Statewide local governments want to fix that. They're restricting fertilizer use during the summer months.

One recent sunny morning on Titusville's Veterans Memorial Fishing Pier state and local leaders gathered to announce the installation of new water quality monitors in the Indian River Lagoon to measure nitrogen and phosphorous levels.

In the lagoon algal blooms and brown tides have helped kill off dolphins, pelicans and manatees and more than half of the lagoon's sea grass.

"We had reached a point where we started to understand that the lagoon was in peril." 

That's Titusville Mayor Jim Tulley. He says the new monitors will help measure how Brevard's fertilizer ban works.

"This river and the problems affect us not just environmentally but economically. This lagoon is a huge moneymaker for this whole area, and that cannot be ignored." 

There's evidence the bans work. A study by the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program found restrictions in southwest Florida significantly reduced nutrient levels there.

Maurice Sterling of the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program says most counties around the 156-mile lagoon are restricting fertilizer use. He says it might take some getting used to.

"If there was any product ever over-applied in the history of humanity it was fertilizer. Folks thought, well, if a pound is good two pounds is better. And they could see the results. It's visceral. You put a fertilizer on, you get a rain or turn on your sprinklers, and instantly you get greener, lusher grass."

Sterling says grass doesn't need that much fertilizer. He suggests fertilizing in the winter for deeper root growth and using fertilizers that release nutrients slowly, minimizing excess.

Fertilizer companies are responding, too. A $5 million grant over three years from the Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. will fund Florida-based research and environmental enhancement. That includes a two-year grant for the Ocean Resource Conservation Association to study the sources of nutrients and other pollutants in the Indian River Lagoon.

Mark Slavens of Scotts says fertilizer companies joined with the state Department of Agriculture in 2007 to reduce nutrient levels in their products.

"But since then we have not really seen within Florida improvement in water quality. And there's a lot of different reasons water quality can become impaired and a lot of different pollutant sources."

There's talk of a statewide fertilizer restriction. But Sterling says Florida's waterways are so diverse what works for one might not work for another. For instance the Indian River Lagoon is especially vulnerable because it's long and narrow, making for a lot of shoreline.

"That's a lot of yards pouring fertilizer into a very narrow strip of water."

He says he's encouraged by what fertilizer companies are doing, but Floridians can make a real difference.

"We don't have to look like a park to have a beautiful lawn and beautiful landscaping."

Sterling says with time awareness will grow, and Floridians will get used to using less fertilizer.

 

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