a Fla example: Heavy metals, muck cloud Crane Creek near Melbourne - Mercury, Silver, Lead, Copper

[Guest guest]

The toxin evaluation delineated in the news article is a model for other

communities, noting that the types of toxins will differ according to

locale, as will most likely routes whereby the toxins enter human

bodies, including embryos, fetuses, infants, and toddlers - including

placenta, amniotic fluid, fetal circulation, colostrum, and breast milk.

* * * *

January 6, 2006

Heavy metals, muck cloud Crane Creek

Further studies, safeguards needed, scientists say

BY JIM WAYMER

FLORIDA TODAY

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060106/NEWS01/601060333\

/1006

*Closer look*

*

What is lagoon muck?*

Muck is about 59 percent silt and clay, 10 percent organic matter, 21

percent quarts, 10 percent carbonate.

*

Where does muck come from? *

Mostly from soil runoff from construction, farming and erosion along

lagoon tributaries, but also rotting organic matter from algae and dead

plants in the lagoon. Too much plant growth from fertilizer and sewage

seeping into the lagoon can contribute to the muck buildup. Much of the

muck in the lagoon ultimately settles in the Intracoastal Waterway, the

main man-made channel through the middle of the lagoon.

*

Why muck matters.*

1. It suspends easily in the water, clouding it up and limiting seagrass

growth and the fish and organisms that live in them.

2. It contributes to bacterial decay, which eats oxygen from the bottom

sediment and water, potentially causing fish kills. Muck also produces

noxious chemicals, such as hydrogen sulfide that creates the rotten egg

smell in the lagoon.

3. It blankets an otherwise sandy bottom, changing the make-up of organisms.

4. Muck serves as a depository for many pollutants, such as heavy

metals, pesticides and herbicides.

5. Adds excess nutrients to the water that contribute to harmful algae

blooms. */*-- Trefry, Florida Tech*/*

[foto] Metal residue. Scientists testing the waters of Crane Creek near

downtown Melbourne have found significant levels of mercury, silver and

lead. R. Brown, FLORIDA TODAY

[informative graphic]

Contaminated muck cakes the bottom of Crane Creek with mercury and

silver at 50 to 100 times normal levels, putting fish and those who eat

them at risk.

Recent studies by Florida Tech researchers have shown elevated levels of

those and other noxious metals that wash in with silt and clay, which

also clouds out seagrass vital to the Indian River Lagoon food chain.

The researchers say the health and environmental impacts need more

study, but the results so far raise concerns about what could be a

lagoonwide problem.

" It's a little bit of a yellow light, " said Trefry, a Florida Tech

geochemist who studied Crane Creek and several other tributaries.

Trefry and two other Florida

Tech scientists issued their final report to the St. s Water

Management District about clay clouding the lagoon. Similar work he and

three other Florida Tech scientists submitted to the district in 2004

turned up the elevated mercury and other metals in Crane Creek.

The metals came from the city's past sewage discharges, upstream

development and from under boat docks, where dredges did not reach

during a 1998 project.

But lagoonwide, metals from cars, power plants, paints and electronics

keep entering the estuary. They cling to clays from sod and construction

sites, flow into storm water, then ooze into the lagoon.

Specifically, the Crane Creek researchers found:

# Mercury and silver 50 to 100 times normal levels in the sediment, most

of it from 30 to 60 years ago. Trefry suspects most came from dental,

photographic and art wastes discharged when the city of Melbourne pumped

sewage directly into the creek, a practice the state banned in 1990.

# Lead up to six times above natural levels, likely from the fallout

into roadside soils when cars burned leaded gas.

# Copper two to 10 times above normal levels , most from anti-fouling

paints on boat hulls.

Mostly muck

An estimated 1,046 cubic yards of sediment flows into Crane Creek

annually, enough to fill about 62 dump trucks.

Much of that is muck -- the paste-like mix of silt, clay and decomposed

plant matter with the consistency of a rotten banana. Excess muck also

can be a sign of too many nutrients leaching from septic tanks,

fertilizers and other sources, triggering too much algae growth.

The $623,000 project in 1998 dredged about 98,000 cubic yards -- or

5,700 dump trucks worth -- from Crane Creek, pumping the spoil into

three football stadium-sized holes next to the city's water treatment

plant along the creek's southern bank.

" What we saw was that there was still a layer of muck everywhere, and

that some of it is still contaminated, " Trefry said of the post-dredging

study.

Preventing problems

The researchers recommended the district, along with local governments,

better control stormwater runoff with more dams, ponds and baffle boxes

-- square concrete chambers linked to storm drains that capture dirt

before it enters the lagoon.

Trefry also says better enforcement on builders to control sediment on

construction sites would help.

" The science is somewhat more straightforward than the solution, " he

said. " I still think we have to stop it from coming in. "

A $3 million dredging project planned for late this year could do that,

by including rocks placed along the creek's banks to lessen soil erosion

and a sump in the creek to catch muck before it reaches the lagoon. The

water management district has set aside $1.3 million.

State Rep. Mitch Needelman, R-Melbourne, who lives along the creek,

plans to push this year for the additional $2 million to start the

project by October.

Carolynn and Walter Milouski notice the chronic coffee-like cloudiness

in Crane Creek.

" The water looks dark, " Carolynn Milouski said as her 2-year-old,

, tossed stones into the creek one day this week at the manatee

observation area just west of U.S. 1.

They support dredging Crane Creek and other lagoon tributaries, as long

as it cleanses the lagoon enough to foster more marine life. The Palm

Bay couple likes to bring their son to see the manatees, catfish and the

turtles that loiter in Crane Creek just east of the railway bridge --

most days, that is.

" Not even a catfish today, " Walter Milouski said.

Contact Waymer at 242-3663 or email jwaymer@...

*

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