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1. Background, Purpose Statement To meet Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) as defined by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), Indian River County (County) will evaluate managed aquatic plant systems (MAPS) to reduce Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorous (P) in waters discharged from the North Relief Canal (NRC). Although the County has used existing MAPS technologies to reduce N and P discharges in the Main and South Relief Ca- nals, the County recognizes that opportunities exist to improve upon these approaches. As a result, the County is interested in developing and testing technologies that have advantages over traditional MAPS in terms of design, performance and efficiency. Van Ert, Nemoto and Associates, LLC (VEN) will work with Indian River County to im- plement and test an innovative, low energy MAPS — a concept termed Low Energy Aquatic Plant System (LEAPSTM) - that combines cultivation of aquatic plant species with settling and oxygenation units to reduce N and P in nutrient impaired waters. Spe- cifically, VEN will design, construct, operate, monitor and optimize a pilot scale LEAPS T11 on the NRC. In addition, VEN will compare then LEAPSTM performance to a non -sloped attached algae system known as a Periphytic-Epiphytic Algae Re - Oxygenation (PEARO) system. Each system will operate at a flow rate of 5 gallons per minute (total = 14,400 gallons/day). The overall goal of the project is to collect relevant data over a 12 month period to develop a preliminary design and process layout for a full-scale system that can be constructed on the North Relief Canal; a preliminary de- sign report will be presented formally to the County. 2. Tasks and Deliverables The project will be completed in four main tasks or stages: Stage 1. Site Selection, Preliminary Water Testing, Construction of Pilot Stage 2. Pilot testing: Emergent Plant Down -Select Stage 3. Pilot testing: Optimal Plants and Parameters Stage 4. Preliminary Full Scale Design Report A detailed description and discussion of the project was initially presented in VEN's re- sponse to the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) delivered to the County on April 4, 2012 and in the first Statement of Work (SOW) delivered on June 1, 2016. However, due to permitting delays, budgetary considerations, and technical/scientific discussions with the County, we have modified the tasks/deliverables in the original SOW to include 1) an expansion of the project duration from six to twelve months, 2) a reduction in num- bers of LEAPSTM systems from four to one, 3) a reduction in floating aquatic plants species to be tested (Water Lettuce only) and 4) a reduction in the frequency of testing of select water chemistry parameters. We are confident these strategic changes will ultimately improve project focus and the applicability/predicative value of the collected data relative to the performance a full-scale LEAPSTm during year-long operations. The following is a summary of the revised tasks and deliverables for the project. 2 265