Muck has been piling up on the Indian River Lagoon floor since the 1960s. This soft, nutrient-rich sediment goes by an unglamorous nickname here in Florida: “black mayonnaise.” Decades of development, ditching, and draining pushed sediment and organic material into the estuary.

Even if every new source of pollution stopped tomorrow, that legacy muck would stick around — feeding algal blooms and smothering the seagrass habitats fish and wildlife depend on.

In this episode, two AECOM environmental engineers explain an alternative to dredging called muck capping: covering muck with a layer of clean material to cut it off from the water above, sometimes reinforced with amendments like biochar or activated carbon.

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One Lagoon, One Voice is a podcast where members of the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program sit down with scientists, researchers, and community leaders to discuss important issues facing the 156-mile-long estuary on Florida’s east coast. Learn more about hot topics like seagrass restoration, manatee populations, and much more on the only show that brings both the wondrous and worrisome aspects of the Indian River Lagoon into focus.

#muckcapping #dredging #IndianRiverLagoon

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