Millions of dollars in state funding heading to Indian River Lagoon improvements

Millions of dollars in state funding will help protect and preserve the Indian River Lagoon. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a budget that includes grants and aid to improve the lagoon's water quality as well as save wildlife.The lagoon has experienced man-made pollution over the years and has suffered from severe storms."We've done a lot of work to try to improve things in the lagoon, and we are seeing some positive changes," said Lauren Hall, who is with the St. Johns River Water Management District. Hall's almost 30-year career has mostly been spent on the lagoon. She said it is a long road to recovery, and it will take a lot of collaboration. Newly released seagrass mapping results show an increase over the last two years."There's still a lot more that needs to happen, and that increase that we saw was really in the northern section of the Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon. And there are some areas that are really lagging behind and not seeing that recovery," Hall said. Although the county did not get everything it asked for in the state budget, it will get millions of dollars for projects that will fix some key problems.Some include: $350,000 for maintenance and operations for the lagoon and its areas$450,000 will go toward septic upgradesMore than half a million toward water quality improvementAlmost $3 million to a treatment plant.In a statement, Keep Florida Fishing applauded the budget and said in part, "These investments will not only contribute to the health of Florida’s prized waterways and fish habitats, they will also help maintain the State of Florida as one of the country's top destinations for world-class fishing."Hall said the state funding is huge because the more money they get, the more work can be done."These projects, they cost a lot of money, big infrastructure projects, septic to sewer projects, muck removal projects, the Crane Creek, and one project to re-divert some of the water back to the St. Johns River after we've treated it," Hall said.For more information on the $116.5 billion state budget, click here.