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Departmental Item INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF UTILITY SERVICES Date: June 26, 2018 To: Jason E. Brown, County Administrator From: Vincent Burke, P.E., Director of Utility Services Prepared By: Eric Charest, Environmental Compliance Specialist, Utility Services Subject: Blue Cypress Lake Testing Update BACKGROUND/ ANALYSIS, On June 19, 2018, the Indian River County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) directed staff with compiling existing data on monitoring activities that are being, or have been, performed on and around the Blue Cypress Lake in western Indian River County. This request was a result of recent publications in which regulatory agencies have been quoted as saying the water quality of the lake has degraded, possibly linked to the land application of biosolids that takes place near the lake. Blue Cypress Lake is classified under Florida Department of Environmental Protection's (FDEP) Surface Water Quality Standards Classes as a Class I waterbody (Potable Water Supply), forming the headwaters of the St. Johns River. Blue Cypress Lake, with a surface area of nearly 11 square miles, has been identified by many as maintaining a relatively unspoiled ecosystem. Data supporting this claim has been collected and analyzed by many agencies for nearly 40 years, with historical results dating back to 1979. Many of the monitoring sites and programs have been retired over this timeframe, but several sites remain active, with routine monitoring, sampling collection and analyses currently being performed. Review of the monitoring sites in and around the lake using the FDEP's STORET (Water Quality Data STOrage and RETrieval system) identified several state and local agencies as participating in data collection and analyses activities. These agencies include (but may not be limited to): Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Central District Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Southeast District Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Water Quality Standards Special Projects St Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) Florida Lakewatch Ocean Research & Conservation Association (ORCA) A query of FDEP's STORET and SJRWMD's Environmental Data Retrieval Tool systems yielded more than 37,700 individual test results associated with monitoring performed on and around the lake by the various organizations supplying data from 1979 to present. A summary of the testing performed from 1979 through 2018 with the respective monitoring agency is below: C:\Users\Legistar\Appdata\Local\Temp\BCL Technologies\Easypdf 8\@BCL@4C2571F5\@BCL@4C2571F5.Docx Page 1 of 472