Posted on July 21, 2025
The Indian River Lagoon (IRL), one of Florida’s most biologically diverse estuaries, continues to face a serious environmental threat: muck.
This fine-grained, organic-rich sediment looks like black mayonnaise, and its impact is destructive. Accumulated over decades due to stormwater runoff, wastewater discharges, septic leachate, and fertilizer use, muck now covers thousands of acres of lagoon bottom, smothering marine life and degrading water quality.
In Brevard County alone, muck suffocates nearly 6,000 acres of the lagoon floor. As it decays, muck is the biggest source of excess nitrogen and phosphorus pollution that fuel harmful algal blooms. Both muck and algae blooms cloud the water, block sunlight vital for seagrass growth, and ultimately create oxygen-depleted dead zones. These dead zones cannot support the fish, crabs, and other wildlife that make the lagoon so vibrant.
While the Save Our Indian River Lagoon (SOIRL) Program has completed more than 100 projects that reduce pollution sources, progress is also underway to remove muck.
On July 8th, the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners received an update on the Grand Canal muck removal project. Launched in 2019, the project originally aimed to dredge 478,700 cubic yards of muck, however dredging to date has removed more muck than anticipated. This meant the contractor was going to complete his contracted volume before cleaning all the canals.
Rather than leaving the job unfinished, the Commission voted to continue the project. Partially funded by $5.1 million in state grant funds — work will continue using the existing Pineda Causeway Dredge Material Management Area to dewater muck dredged from Lake Shepard and two entrance channels. Dredging is expected to wrap up by November 30, 2025, with restoration of the Pineda site by February 28, 2026.
This progress is encouraging but more must be done. At the same meeting, County staff also presented options for three additional muck projects approved in the SOIRL Project Plan: the Eau Gallie Causeway, Sykes Creek Phase II, and the Mims Rim Ditch north of the Jones Road boat ramp.
To move these projects forward, the Commission directed staff to use a competitive process to recruit voluntary participants to identify beneficial uses for muck on their private property. Beneficial uses include soil amendment for sandy pastures and conversion of old borrow pits to wetland filtration and mitigation systems. These private-public partnerships will help minimize cost, maximize benefits and keep land in private ownership. The County is now actively seeking landowners to participate in this next critical phase of lagoon restoration.
Restoring the IRL will not happen overnight. It will require persistence, partnerships, and a willingness to continue investing in solutions that work. Removing muck is foundational to restoring health to this iconic waterway. By pairing muck removal with reducing pollution sources, the SOIRL Program is making it possible for the Indian River Lagoon to recover and Brevard County to thrive.
