Eau Gallie River is a
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
, accessed April 18, 2011 river in
Eau Gallie,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It is a
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
of the
Indian River, with its mouth near Hawthorne Point.
History
The Eau Gallie River was formerly named Elbow Creek.
[Scofner, Jerrell H. ''History of Brevard County Volume I'' (Stuart, FL: Brevard County Historical Commission, 1995), p. 133.] Currently, Elbow Creek is a branch and tributary of the Eau Gallie River. In 1895, a bridge was built across the Eau Gallie River.
In 1907, the
Eau Gallie Yacht Club was formed as yachting became highly popular in the area. In 1910, the Eau Gallie Yacht Club built a clubhouse along the Eau Gallie River and remained at that location until 1960.
In 2011, residents and people using the river complained that sediment was preventing navigation by small boats. The of sediment was caused from nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers, as well as clay deposits. This sediment has killed life in the river. The
Orlando Melbourne International Airport
Melbourne Orlando International Airport is a public airport northwest of downtown Melbourne, in Brevard County, Florida, United States, and 50 miles southeast of Orlando, located on central Florida's Space Coast. The airport is reached by N ...
also drains into the river. A study estimates it would cost from $17.9 to $24.7 million to
dredge
Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...
the river. The priority for this was low.
In 2015, the ability to clean up estuaries was improved by the county taxpayers approving a half-cent sales tax. As a result, the county planned on removing equivalent to 42,000 dump trucks worth of muck from the river, as well as from its tributary, Elbow Creek. Included in the removal is of nitrogen and of phosphorus.
See also
*
Ballard Park (Melbourne, Florida)
*
Eau Gallie, Florida
Eau Gallie () is a section of the city of Melbourne, Florida, located on the city's northern side. It was an independent city in Brevard County from 1860 until 1969.
That year residents of Eau Gallie and Melbourne voted to merge their governmen ...
*
Indian River (Florida)
The Indian River is a long brackish lagoon in Florida. It is part of the Indian River Lagoon system, which in turn forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It was originally named ''Rio de Ais'' after the Ais Indian tribe, who lived ...
References
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Eau Gallie, Florida
Rivers of Florida
Rivers of Brevard County, Florida
Tributaries of the Indian River (Florida)