Crew fights weeds in Palm Coast waterways

Published: Monday, March 25, 2013 at 7:04 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, March 25, 2013 at 9:14 p.m.

PALM COAST -- The city for years has been spraying local streams and canals with weed killer.

The process has been working, according to the city, because hydrilla and other plants that could potentially clog up a water system have been kept at bay.

The city hires a contractor out of Palatka and a crew goes to all of the bodies of freshwater -- from the Royal Palms Waterway to the London Waterway -- and fires a stream of herbicide at mostly every blade that sticks out of the water.

Not everything gets the chemical treatment, said Donald Schrager, a stormwater system specialist for Palm Coast. The ecosystem is respected and enough vegetation is left behind to provide a food source for fish and other wildlife.

"We refer to it as selective treatment," said Schrager. "We don't try to kill off everything."

The city hired a contractor, Aquatic Management Plus, to treat all of its freshwater ponds and streams. The annual contract is based on performance. Workers visit each waterway on a regular basis and administer the herbicide whenever they see fit. Sometimes someone will ride to a river bank on an all-terrain vehicle and spray the weeds with a hose and other times someone will drop a tube below the surface of the water and release the herbicide directly onto the base of a plant.

But most of the time, Schrager said, the crew will take an airboat out onto the water and shoot a direct stream at any weeds that appear too tall or potentially hazardous to the waterway.

"He keeps them under control and targets what needs to be treated instead of drenching everything with herbicide," said Schrager. "A lot of these weeds are very prolific. They grow very fast and would choke a waterway."

The contracting crew has filled the city's freshwater canals and streams with plant-eating fish and is experimenting with a new microbe system. Schrager said the city won't know how effective those experiments are for another six months. If it works, it could lead to some cost savings down the road.

The city pays Aquatic Management Plus about $414,000 per year to treat its freshwater waterways, according to budget records.

Schrager said "only minute amounts" of herbicide are used at a time. Not enough of it is used to harm any human or animal and the chemicals themselves dissipate quickly after they mix with the water.

"It only kills what it hits," Schrager said. "It hits the leaves and then soaks into the plant."

The fish, birds, otters, alligators and other reptiles that live, feast and breed in the waterways have done so without the slightest problem, he said.

Crews were out Monday to apply the herbicide, but they had to call it off because the conditions were too windy, said Schrager. Spraying the chemicals during high wind is not recommended because the city doesn't want it to veer off onto someone's private property.

Previously, the contractor the city hired would treat the waterways during a monthly rotation. Nowadays, it's done on an "as-needed basis" and it has worked out better, Schrager said.


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