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TO: Board of County Commissioners Jason Brown, Dori Roy FROM: Clean Water Coalition of Indian River County Judy Orcutt, Vice President DATE: Feb. 11, 2019 RE: For the record: Item 14A2: BCC Agenda 2/12/19 - Biosolids First of all, we would like to thank Commissioner Solari, the staff and the Commission for their leadership on this important issue. The Clean Water Coalition (CWC) has determined that the safe handling and deposition of Biosolids is one of 5 primary issues for the waters of IRC. In fact, 4 out 5 out of our priority issues are related to human waste. The CWC has supported Representative Grall's HB 405 including pilot projects for alternative technologies for the safe handling of biosolids and nutrient recovery. The Bill as written does nothing to protect the Indian River Lagoon. It is our hope that just as the protections to the south covered the Lake Okeechobee, St. Lucie River and Caloosahatchee watersheds, this bill should protect the St John's and Indian River Lagoon. There is one and possibly two FDEP licensed application sites in IRC within the IRL watershed. The Brevard Indian River Lagoon Coalition is also supporting this change. We concur with Commissioner Solari's proposal that water quality testing continue at Blue Cypress Lake. We would like to add that surface and ground water testing be initiated for all FDEP licensed biosolids sites by an independent science entity approved by the county. We may discover legacy loading that the responsible party can remediate. Please see the BCL drainage map below with FDEP biosolids app sites marked. The CWC recognizes that Class AA fertilizer is a pelletized biosolid with the same nutrient and toxin composition that is creating our water quality problem. It is urgent that Class AA be labeled correctly as a biosolid and handled appropriately. After watching Drew Bartlett's presentation to the Ag and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Feb 7th, the CWC concurs with Mr. Solari that the State has no sense of urgency regarding this issue. This is unacceptable! He states that rule changes will take a minimum of 2 years. A permanent moratorium is warranted by this lack of immediate attention to this human and environmental health problem. The meeting may be viewed at the link below beginning at 1:00: https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/VideoPlayer.aspx?eventlD=2443575804 2019021072 Thank you once again for taking the lead on this important issue. /y9-/