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including: muck dredging in the St. Sebastian River, the creation of stormwater marshes to purify <br />polluted water, and improved sedimentation and erosion control practices. <br />While the majority of the lagoon's water within Indian River County maintains the Florida <br />Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) designation of "Outstanding Florida Waters", <br />lagoon water quality is poorer in the southern portion of the county. According to the 2008 DEP <br />Surface Water Quality standards report, Class II waters exist within the northern section of the <br />Indian River Lagoon and within the extreme southern section of the Indian River Lagoon within <br />Indian River County. From the North Relief Canal south to the northern tip of Round Island, <br />however, the Indian River Lagoon is designated as Class III. While Class II is a designation that <br />allows for shellfish propagation or harvesting, Class III is a lower standard that allows for <br />recreation, propagation and maintenance of a healthy, well-balanced population of fish and <br />wildlife (note: Class I is sufficient for potable water, Class IV is sufficient for agricultural water <br />supplies, and Class V is sufficient for navigation, utility, and industrial use). <br />Among the earliest developments in the county was the construction of a massive drainage system <br />with three outfalls to the Indian River Lagoon. Those outfalls are the Main Relief Canal, the North <br />Relief Canal, and the South Relief Canal. Throughout the southeastern portion of Indian River <br />County, stormwater runoff is transported to the lagoon via that drainage system. <br />In the future, the Indian River Lagoon's water quality can be improved by reducing the amount of <br />stormwater that flows into the lagoon as well as by improving the quality of stormwater flowing to <br />the lagoon. In the past, excessive discharges of freshwater into the Indian River Lagoon have had an <br />adverse impact on the lagoon's salinity. <br />By diverting some runoff into reservoirs or wetlands that allow stormwater filtration into the <br />surficial aquifer, the amount of stormwater runoff that flows into the Indian River Lagoon can be <br />reduced. One project that accomplishes this is the Sebastian Stormwater Park that was recently <br />developed by the City of Sebastian in coordination with the SJRWMD. The 166 -acre Sebastian <br />stormwater park utilizes pumps to divert water from the Collier Canal into the park's system of <br />interconnected ponds and wetlands. In addition to removing pollutants from stormwater runoff, <br />those ponds and wetlands also recharge the shallow aquifer. Stormwater parks such as that not only <br />improve water quality, but also provide passive recreation opportunities for local residents. <br />To clean up stormwater flowing into the lagoon, the county, in late 2007, commenced construction <br />on a filtration system to treat 200 million gallons of water per day flowing from the Main Relief <br />Canal into the lagoon. In addition, construction of a second water quality project known as the Egret <br />Marsh commenced in late 2008. The Egret Marsh project will treat 10 million gallons of water per <br />day in the Lateral D canal. <br />In the future, the county's policy should be to develop additional stormwater treatment facilities <br />similar to the Sebastian Stormwater Park, the Main Relief Canal filtration system, and the Egret <br />Marsh project. In the unincorporated portions of the county, stormwater parks could be constructed <br />at locations adjacent to canals. Potential sites include the Oslo transfer station adjacent to the South <br />Future Land Use Element 115 <br />