District plans community meeting Crane Creek/M-1 Canal Flow Restoration Project

District staff will be on hand to answer questions about the Crane Creek/M-1 Canal Flow Restoration Project during an Aug. 14 public meeting in West Melbourne.

PALATKA, Fla., Aug. 7, 2019 — The St. Johns River Water Management District will hold a community meeting to exchange information with people interested in the Crane Creek/M-1 Canal Flow Restoration Project, a project designed to reduce stormwater runoff flowing to the Indian River Lagoon.

The meeting will be held on Aug. 14, 3-6 p.m., at the Rodes Park Community Center, 3410 Flanagan Ave., West Melbourne, FL 32904.

The M-1 Canal is a century-old man-made flood control feature in Brevard County that serves Melbourne, West Melbourne, Melbourne Village and portions of unincorporated Brevard County, diverting stormwater flow from 5,300 acres of the historic St. Johns River basin through Crane Creek to the Indian River Lagoon.

This restoration project focuses on reducing nutrient and sediment loads to the Indian River Lagoon by treating and returning baseflows and storm flows back to the St. Johns River. Elevated levels of nutrients within runoff from this currently diverted watershed degrade lagoon water quality and provide fuel for algal blooms.

The project will include an operable weir within the M-1 Canal just east of Evans Road, a stormwater pump station, and a treatment area west of Interstate 95. The operable weir – which allows capture of runoff for the pump station – is engineered to have no impact to the existing flood control capability of the M-1 Canal.

District staff will present a brief project overview at the top of each hour and will be happy to answer questions about the project. Maps, schematics and illustrations will also be displayed for viewing.

Additional information is available at the Crane Creek projects page and questions or concerns can be sent to cranecreekproject@sjrwmd.com.