A project meant to restore the health of the ailing Eau Gallie River is now on hold.
It's not money slowing this project -- but manatees.
- Crews dredging the Eau Gallie River in Brevard County
- Project on hold until May because of increased manatee presence
- Project supposed to finish in 2018
The water in the Eau Gallie River is looking clearer and getting healthier already, thanks to the St. Johns River Water Management District's dredging project.
"Removing the muck is going to benefit our plants and aquatic life that call the river home," said Danielle Spears with the St. Johns River Water Management District.
But the project stopped on March 1 and won't get back underway until at least May 1 because of the increased manatee presence in the river and surrounding canals.
Precautions like this are especially important after 98 manatees were killed because of boat related incidents just this past year.
St. Johns says precautions related to manatees and wildlife are common and in most of their contracts when it comes to dredging.
"A lot of precautions are already taken," Spears said. "There is someone out there who is always observing the area to see if manatees come in too close in proximity, in addition to closing off certain areas in the estuary so manatees can't access them."
While they will take about 2 months off, they say the benefits will be noticeable once completed.
"We did have to hit pause for a bit but in the end everything is going to benefit from the dredging and muck removal," Spears said.
Once the project is completed in 2018 they say they'll have removed more than 630,000 cubic yards of muck.