Executive Summary. Project Applicant and Partners: Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department and Brevard County Schools

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2 Executive Summary Project Title: Countywide Rain Bench Construction and Installation Project Applicant and Partners: Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department and Brevard County Schools Amount of Request: $5, Other Funding Sources and Amount of Total Match: Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department Stormwater Utility Fee- $5, Brief Project Description: Brevard County, in partnership with Brevard County Schools will implement a stormwater pollution prevention project by constructing & installing rain benches at local schools. Rain benches function like rain barrels by capturing rain & stormwater runoff and store it for gardening applications Project Location: Locations vary throughout the county. IRL Location Map (Attached) CCMP Action Plans addressed by project: FSD-11 Educate residents and property owners about the impacts of freshwater and stormwater discharges on the Indian River Lagoon and what they can do to reduce these impacts Recommended Priority: High PIE-1 Implement and expand public involvement and education projects or programs Recommended Priority: High PIE-1 Strategically prioritize and implement public education programs based on pollution potential, perceived likelihood for behavior change, resource availability and opportunities that arise Recommended Priority: High Project Outputs (Deliverables) and Outcomes: The project consists of constructing 20 to 25 rain benches constructed and installed throughout Brevard County by students and teachers. The benches will be constructed by Brevard County students under the supervision of their teachers and installed in different areas throughout the County. The expectation of this project is to increase citizen awareness of the health of the Indian River Lagoon and promote positive behavior changes and increase pollution prevention practices. A final report documenting the locations of all the benches constructed will be provided at the end of the project.

3 SECTION 1 INDIAN RIVER LAGOON NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM FY Work Plan PROJECT PROPOSAL APPLICATION Project Title: Countywide Rain Bench Construction and Installation Indian River Lagoon Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) Action Plans Assigned Priority Level Implemented by this Project: FSD-11 Educate residents and property owners about the impacts of freshwater and stormwater discharges on the Indian River Lagoon and what they can do to reduce these impacts Recommended Priority: High PIE-1 Implement and expand public involvement and education projects or programs Recommended Priority: High PIE-1 Strategically prioritize and implement public education programs based on pollution potential, perceived likelihood for behavior change, resource availability and opportunities that arise Recommended Priority: High Applicant Information: Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department (NRM) Lydia E. Jackson, Project Coordination Specialist Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Building A, Room 219 Viera, FL Phone: (321) lydia.jackson@brevardfl.gov SECTION 2 A. Project Goals and Objectives: Brevard County, in partnership with Brevard County Schools will implement a stormwater pollution prevention project by constructing & installing rain benches at local schools. Rain benches function like rain barrels by capturing rain & stormwater runoff and storing it for irrigation applications. They are different in that they also provide an aesthetic seating option. The goal of this project is to engage students and teachers within the Brevard County School District with a community wide project to help reduce stormwater impacts on the Indian River Lagoon (IRL). Participation in this project will promote water conservation, environmental stewardship and help to create behavior change in our citizens by expanding their engagement and understanding of the effects that pollutants carried in stormwater have on the Indian River Lagoon. 1

4 B. Technical Merit/Justification Understanding stormwater impacts on our waterways is critical to restoring the Indian River Lagoon back to healthy conditions. Low impact development projects are less expensive than large scale stormwater projects and relatively easy to implement with students and volunteers. C. Benefit(s) to the IRL In response to the declining health of the IRL, Brevard County put forth an aggressive restoration strategy to aid in the IRL s recovery and to protect coastal resources. A component of Brevard s strategy is to reduce excess nutrient inputs by street sweeping, implementing pollution prevention outreach, enacting stricter fertilizer regulations, installing baffle boxes, constructing stormwater ponds, utilizing floating vegetative islands, and many other water quality projects. This project will reduce the volume of stormwater impacting the lagoon and the demand for limited potable water resources. It will be implemented at multiple county schools where it will be visible to a large population. It will help to educate high school students, parents, teachers, administrators, and the public on the benefits of water conservation as well as reducing stormwater runoff. D. Local commitment The project is part of the Brevard County s Commitment to reduce stormwater pollution and excess nutrient inputs into the Indian River Lagoon. Project participants include the Brevard County School Board, Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department, high school students and local volunteers. E. Project Readiness The project will be implemented as during the school year. Project design is complete; permitting and bidding is not required. F. Project monitoring/evaluation and maintenance plans The rain benches will be placed in gardens and near green houses where students and volunteers will continually use and maintain them for seating and watering. G. Citizen/Volunteer Engagement Education and Outreach Components This outreach component of this project will consist of engaging Brevard County students and teachers in the construction, installation and use of rain benches. Teachers will oversee student construction of rain benches for placement at student managed greenhouses and community gardens at local schools. The students and their teachers will identify locations to install rain benches and construct 20 to 25 benches. The students will learn about water harvesting and conservation. They will gain knowledge of the effects that stormwater runoff has on the Indian River Lagoon and ways to reduce stormwater pollution. An evaluation of the students will be set up to determine what they knew before the project and what knowledge they gained after the project was complete. With this knowledge students will be more equipped to become good community stewards and make behavioral choices that benefit the IRL. 2

5 I. Experience and Past Performance Brevard County s Watershed program has been involved in many public outreach activities. Outreach is conducted by the County s in-house Stormwater Outreach Specialist and outsourced to BLUE LIFE. Outreach has included television, radio and billboard ads, presentations, workshops, table top outreach at events, distribution of brochures about pollution prevention, a comprehensive and well-maintained web site and Facebook page, the production and airing of public service announcements and conducting surveys. The County, through BLUE LIFE, began as a partnership with nine (9) municipalities, Brevard Zoo and Good Education Solutions conducted a campaign to increase stormwater awareness and reduce non-point pollution. Surveys were sent to 50,000 homes through the Melbourne Utility bill to collect baseline information. In 2015, a similar survey was delivered to measure change. Approximately 1,500 people responded to each survey, a sufficient size for measuring statistical change. The results showed that between 2012 and 2015, behavioral change on multiple fronts (i.e., fertilizer and pesticide use, car wash activity, and dog waste pick-up) has served to reduce the footprints of households contributing to local water quality deterioration. Survey respondents reported a 17.4% greater familiarity with the pollution problems of the Indian River Lagoon. In 2016, the County s Stormwater Outreach Specialist participated in fifteen (15) special events and supervised volunteers in the collection & recycling of monofilament from the County s Monofilament Recovery & Recycling Program (MRRP) bins that are located along waterways throughout Brevard County as well as assisting volunteers with storm drain marking in residential neighborhoods. Outreach conducted countywide through the BLUE LIFE partnership in 2016 included: Presentations to Children: 70 events & 1,262 attendees Presentations to Adults: 7 events & 184 attendees Special Events: 14 Events & 2006 attendees Workshops conducted throughout the County provided residents with information about stormwater projects being built in their neighborhood, sources of pollution within their drainage basin, the benefits of baffle boxes, the ways in which stormwater in their basin flows to the Indian River Lagoon, and actions each resident can take to reduce nutrients entering the waterways. Topics include the prevention of grass clippings, fertilizer, car wash detergent, pet waste and other forms of pollution from entering the stormwater system. During the workshops, residents also receive information about the benefits of having a rain barrel at their home or business such as reducing runoff and pollution loads to the Lagoon and reusing stormwater for landscape irrigation. Participants are given free rain barrels with a kit that includes a faucet, flexible downspout extender, leaf filter, and a DVD with instructions for building, installing, and painting their barrel. The County also continues to produce and air public service announcements (PSA s) featuring the benefits of rain barrels and discouraging pollution to the Lagoon from fertilizer, grass clippings and other sources. Videos are shown in movie theaters, at Movies-in-the Park events sponsored by the Brevard County Parks and Recreation Department, on television and posted on the County s website. Radio PSA s are aired on local radio stations. The County maintains an on-line Atlas of stormwater projects to illustrate graphical information for the public. It shows the distribution of projects in the viewer s area of interest, shows different types of 3

6 BMP s and provides a link to specific information about each project such as year built, BMP type, project cost, project benefit and funding partners. Florida Yards and Neighborhoods/My Brevard Yard: The County strengthened its partnership with the University of Florida/IFAS, Brevard Extension Service through the creation of the My Brevard Yard program, an expansion of the FYN program. My Brevard Yard includes hands-on workshops to educate residents about maintaining a healthy lawn while complying with local fertilizer ordinances and providing information about best management practices for fertilizer and irrigation. Participants learn how to calibrate and correctly use a fertilizer spreader, calculate the correct amount of fertilizer, correctly set irrigation timers and calibrate an irrigation system. The combined program offers comprehensive information for participants to establish and maintain Florida-friendly landscaping in accordance with local conditions. In the follow-up survey to the My Brevard Yard workshop and site visit participants, eighteen (40%) of the participants responded and indicated they had changed the following practices. 55% use slow release or organic fertilizers 44% now avoid preventative or scheduled pesticide sprays 33% test the soil to determine their fertilizer program Oyster Gardening: Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department, in partnership with the Brevard Zoo, developed a citizen-based oyster propagation program to raise juvenile oysters to populate oyster reef sites constructed at various locations within the Indian River Lagoon. Oyster Gardening workshops were held throughout the county to provide training and education about oysters, oyster gardening, and current issues facing the IRL. The program is on-going and continues to be successful. Today s Leaves and Grass Clippings, Tomorrows Indian River Lagoon Muck - The County developed a pilot project that engages high school students in a laboratory experiment to measure nutrient leaching rates released by different plant material and learn about sustainable lifestyles that prevent or reduce stormwater pollution. The experiment consists of placing samples of freshly cut St. Augustine grass, Bahia grass, Bermuda grass, new fallen oak leaves, pine needles and sabal palm fronds into individual containers and adding water from a stormwater pond to each container. Students learned about methods to prevent, detect and eliminate stormwater pollution by disposing of yard wastes properly, applying minimal amounts of fertilizers and pesticides, reducing litter, and detecting and eliminating illicit discharges. A lesson plan and methodology for this exercise was developed for distribution to numerous schools (private/public). This program should help protect seagrasses and other ecological components by increasing awareness and reducing the nutrient load entering the lagoon. J. Special Requirements TMDLs and Climate Change 4

7 SECTION 3 Project Funding A. Partnership and Cost Sharing $ Requested Grant Funds $ Match Funds B. Project Budget: Task Line Item Task Description IRL Funding Amount Cost Share Funding Amount 1 Quarterly Reports $0 $0 2 Identify Locations for $0 $0 Rain Benches 3 Construction of Benches $5, $5, Installation of Benches $0 $0 Project Final Report Summary Cost $5, $5, Cost Share Funding Source (cash or in-kind) Brevard County Stormwater Utility Fees Project Total Cost $10,

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9 INDIAN RIVER LAGOON NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM FY Work Plan REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL APPLICATION Format for Statement of Work Countywide Rain Bench Construction and Installation I. INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND Brevard County, in partnership with Brevard County Schools will implement a stormwater pollution prevention project by constructing & installing rain benches at local schools. Rain benches function like rain barrels by capturing rain & stormwater runoff and store it for landscaping applications. They are different in that they also provide an aesthetic seating option. II. OBJECTIVE The goal of this project is to engage students and teachers within the Brevard County School District with a community wide project to help reduce stormwater impacts on the Indian River Lagoon (IRL). Participation in this project will promote water conservation, environmental stewardship and help to create behavior change in our citizens by expanding their engagement and understanding of the effects that pollutants have on the Indian River Lagoon. III. LOCATION The benches will be placed at many different locations throughout the County. IV. SCOPE OF WORK Brevard County students, with supervision and guidance from their teachers, will construct 20 to 25 rain benches and install them at local schools. V. TASK IDENTIFICATION Task 1: Identify Locations for Rain Benches Task 2: Construct Benches Task 3: Install of Benches Task 4: Final Report 1

10 INDIAN RIVER LAGOON NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM FY Work Plan REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL APPLICATION VI. DELIVERABLES and TIMEFRAMES Deliverables expected will be rain benches constructed and installed throughout Brevard County by students and teachers. A final report documenting the locations of all the benches constructed will be provided at the end of the project. The expectation of this project is to increase citizen awareness of the health of the Indian River Lagoon and promote positive behavior changes regarding pollution prevention practices. Construction will be completed by June 2019 with the final report submitted by August VII. BUDGET Task Line Item Task Description IRL Funding Amount Cost Share Funding Amount 1 Quarterly Reports $0 $0 2 Identify Locations for $0 $0 Rain Benches 3 Construction of Benches $5, $5, Installation of Benches $0 $0 Project Final Report Summary Cost $5, $5, Cost Share Funding Source (cash or in-kind) Brevard County Stormwater Utility Fees Project Total Cost $10,