Groundwater Pollution: Engaging the Community in Solutions

This study is a groundwater pollution modeling project which addresses the need to provide a priority plan to identify the critical areas where groundwater contamination is most likely impacting the Indian River Lagoon. The installation of 20 new shallow groundwater wells, continuous monitoring of 30 wells across 11 communities, spatial data acquisition and analyses, groundwater modeling, a representative behavioral survey, and reporting were legislatively-funded. An additional 15 shallow groundwater wells in 5 communities were funded by the Brevard County Save Our Indian River Lagoon Project Plan (SOIRLPP). The data from these five additional communities will be included with the data from the larger groundwater study to compare nutrient and bacteria concentrations in communities with septic systems, those with sewage and those with sewage and reclaimed water. The SOIRLPP project additionally evaluates the effectiveness of several groundwater retrofit projects by providing performance measures before and after retrofit completion. AEI’s responsibilities include study design, site prioritization, well siting and installation, spatial data acquisition and assessment, groundwater modeling and respective calibration based on field collected data, statistical analyses, and reporting.