Published January 29, 2022
Guest Columnists Grant Gilmore & William Loftus
Everyone likes to point a finger at someone else for causing pollution. But how often do we look into the mirror
Indian River Lagoon
January 2022
and consider our own actions and lifestyle?
Do you use pesticides? Do you use herbicides like a weed and feed? Do you use household chemicals? Do you use pharmaceuticals? Do you go to the bathroom?
The answer is “yes,” we all do, whether on our own or when living in a community with a landscaping company to keep our properties green and weed-free.
Do you know that whatever you put on your lawn or send to your septic tank or local sewage-treatment plant will end up in local canals or streams and eventually goes into the Indian River Lagoon and the ocean? You must have seen the roadside signs that say “All Canals lead to the Lagoon!”
We live just five miles west of the lagoon in Indian River County, where cattle and horses continue to miraculously graze. Yet the water in the canals next to our homes can reach the lagoon in just four to five hours when the flood gates are open.
Similarly, everyone in Port St. Lucie is connected to the St. Lucie River through a maze of ditches and canals draining their properties just as people in Palm Bay and Sebastian are connected via Turkey Creek and the St. Sebastian River to the lagoon.
Thanks to global research on water quality, we now know much more about toxic water and the harm it causes in our lakes, streams, coastal waters. These toxic effects are diverse and complex.
It turns out we are all responsible for them and must find ways to stop them if we want a healthy environment. No one is out of the woods. Pesticides and herbicides can cause significant health problems in humans as well as wildlife and native plants and our pets.
Read the rest of the column HERE