Rocket Science, Dirty Water: NASA’s Hidden Impact on Florida’s Fragile Lagoon

Stel Bailey | Investigative Journalist 

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – For decades, Florida’s Space Coast in Brevard County has been at the heart of the nation’s rocket testing and space exploration. But along with the technological breakthroughs, the industry has left behind a legacy of chemical contamination that threatens both the environment and human health.

NASA first began identifying and tracking pollution across its facilities in the 1980s. Today, contaminants are still being disposed of through Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Open Burn Unit, including heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, chromium, and copper, as well as elements like titanium, magnesium, and barium. Other chemicals of concern include perchlorate, a propellant additive with known toxic effects.

In 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended groundwater sampling near rocket launch sites to test for perchlorate. However, because there is no federal standard for the chemical, sampling was never conducted. Perchlorate is frequently found in combination with other pollutants and is often addressed only when remediating those more heavily regulated contaminants.

More recently, NASA identified a contaminant of emerging concern in groundwater at the Kennedy Space Center: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). Alarmingly, PFAS has been detected in the blood of wildlife at the center, with concentrations among the highest ever recorded in the species.

PFAS, often called “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment, are linked to serious health risks. These include weakened immune function, cancer, thyroid disease, reduced fertility, congenital heart defects, elevated cholesterol, and liver and kidney damage.

The discoveries underscore a long-standing challenge for the Space Coast, balancing scientific progress with the health of its people and ecosystems. 

These forever compounds known as fluorinated chemicals (PFAS) could be behind the high rate of various diseases on the Space Coast. The tumors and other immune-related diseases researchers see in marine mammals are considered by biologists as likely proof of the dangers that pollution poses to people.

Groundwater Contamination at Kennedy Space Center

NASA’s ongoing remediation program has uncovered alarming levels of toxic chemicals in groundwater at the Kennedy Space Center. One of the most concerning is trichloroethylene (TCE), a solvent widely used in rocket cleaning operations. Groundwater samples revealed concentrations as high as 300,000 parts per billion, a staggering figure compared to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) drinking water limit of just 5 parts per billion. TCE is a well-documented carcinogen, posing serious risks to both human health and the environment.

NASA is legally bound to follow federal hazardous waste laws in addressing such contamination. Two cornerstone statutes govern its cleanup responsibilities: the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Together, these laws provide the framework for NASA’s Environmental Compliance and Restoration Program, which manages the investigation and cleanup of hazardous substances released into groundwater and surrounding ecosystems.

Despite these safeguards, significant regulatory gaps remain. The EPA does not systematically track or monitor certain chemicals, such as perchlorate, a common rocket propellant contaminant, leaving critical blind spots in environmental oversight. Facilities in the space industry are not required to report perchlorate contamination to the EPA. Even in states authorized to carry out the RCRA program, there is no consistent requirement to notify federal regulators when perchlorate is discovered.

While space and related industries operate under federal standards, those standards are often insufficient to protect ecosystems or human health. At the same time, industry groups have aggressively lobbied against stricter regulations on hazardous chemicals. As a result, substances such as PFAS and perchlorate remain without enforceable safety limits, allowing polluters to evade accountability for contamination and cleanup.

In a 2021 NASA Environmental Liabilities House of Representatives document

High Levels of Mercury

NASA’s most recent report draws attention to the troubling issue of mercury contamination along Florida’s Atlantic coast. Elevated levels of the toxin have been detected in sportfish, dolphins, and even humans who consume seafood from the region. The report also underscores another concern: the atmosphere itself has become a major, unregulated source of nutrients feeding into the Indian River Lagoon, compounding the system’s decline.

Mercury pollution follows a dangerous pathway. Once released into the atmosphere, primarily through industrial emissions, it returns to the earth’s surface in rainfall, where it enters rivers, lagoons, and coastal waters. There, bacteria that thrive in sulfate-rich conditions convert mercury into methylmercury, a highly toxic neurotoxin. This form of mercury bioaccumulates in aquatic food chains, contaminating fish, marine mammals, and the predators that consume them.

Florida has recorded some of the highest concentrations of methylmercury in the nation, particularly in dolphins and fish. The toxin has also been found in raccoons, alligators, and other wildlife dependent on aquatic food sources. For humans, exposure to methylmercury poses significant neurological risks, including developmental harm, impaired cognitive function, and other long-term health effects.

In response, the Indian River Lagoon Health Plan has called for expanded monitoring to better understand how mercury enters and circulates through the ecosystem, and to begin addressing a threat that reaches from the atmosphere to the dinner plate.

Collapse of Seagrass and Manatee Deaths

NASA’s recently released Indian River Lagoon Health Plan paints a grim picture of the region’s watershed. The report highlights mounting pressures from unchecked development, excessive stormwater and wastewater discharges, wetland destruction, dredging, invasive species, and overfishing. Despite mitigation efforts by local governments, the lagoon’s condition continues to deteriorate. Over the past decade, widespread algal blooms, fueled by phosphorus- and nitrogen-rich runoff from industry, agriculture, fertilizers, sewage, and urban watersheds, have devastated the lagoon’s seagrass beds.

The loss of seagrass has had deadly consequences for marine life, particularly manatees that rely on it as a primary food source. In the past decade, 957 manatees have died, with the majority of deaths occurring in Brevard County. In that county alone, 320 manatees have perished, many starving due to the collapse of seagrass ecosystems.

The lagoon’s decline underscores a larger truth: without stronger safeguards and accountability, both the natural environment and human communities remain at risk from unchecked pollution.

These industries are following federal standards, which are not always protective of the ecosystem or human health. They also make aggressive efforts to block the regulation of harmful toxins. Chemicals like PFAS and perchlorate do not have enforceable safety limits, which doesn't hold the industries accountable for cleaning up their mess.

FWC pulls a dead manatee through the Indian River Lagoon toward NASA's VAB building.

The Long Decline of the Indian River Lagoon

The health of the Indian River Lagoon began unraveling more than half a century ago. Just a few years after NASA established operations in 1958, the space industry reshaped the landscape of Brevard County. With rockets came people, thousands of new residents drawn to Florida’s Space Coast. This surge in population fueled rapid development, which in turn brought rising pollution and mounting sewage problems.

For decades, local sewer plants discharged untreated wastewater directly into the lagoon. It wasn’t until 1996 that Florida lawmakers passed the Indian River Lagoon System Act, finally prohibiting sewage plant discharges into these fragile waterways. But by then, scientists had already begun documenting seagrass decline, an early warning sign of a system in distress.

Over time, pollutants and sediment—known as “muck”—continued to accumulate on the lagoon floor, feeding algal blooms that suffocated seagrass beds and choked marine life. By 2012, scientists were finding tumors in wildlife, a grim marker of chemical contamination. Just four years later, algal blooms had spread so extensively that they were visible from space.

Today, the lagoon remains in crisis. Excessive pollution, fueled by development, runoff, and industrial activity, continues to erode one of North America’s most biologically diverse estuaries, leaving seagrass beds barren and wildlife struggling to survive.

The Space Industry’s Responsibility in Protecting Water and Health

After nearly seventy years of environmental strain along Florida’s east coast, the consequences for both ecosystems and human health are undeniable. The space industry has been a major driver of this decline, and it is long past time for it to take an active role in restoring what has been lost.

The Kennedy Space Center has begun laying out plans to confront these challenges head-on. Their efforts include identifying and reducing sources of pollution flowing into the Indian River Lagoon, Mosquito Lagoon, and Banana River, while also committing to long-term restoration projects. These initiatives aim to revive seagrass beds, remove toxic muck, restore clam populations, expand shoreline habitats, and reduce dependence on septic tanks on NASA property.

Equally important, the center plans to work alongside local governments, researchers, and conservation groups to monitor wildlife health, nutrient levels, algal blooms, and ecosystem recovery.

The future of Florida’s waterways, and the communities that depend on them, requires accountability and action. By stepping up, the space industry has the opportunity not only to correct decades of harm but also to become a model for how innovation and environmental stewardship can coexist.

References & Resources

• Cape Canaveral Open Burn Unit – f4zero.org
• NASA Cleaning Up Legacy Contamination – Bloomberg Law
• NASA’s Indian River Lagoon Health Plan – NASA Technical Report (PDF)
• PFAS in Wildlife Presentation – University of Florida Conference Presentation (PDF)
• EPA Technical Fact Sheet: Perchlorate – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (PDF)
• Formerly Used Defense Sites & Perchlorate – Google Books
• History of Perchlorate Health Effects – Environmental Working Group (EWG)
• Government Discussion on Perchlorate – U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO Report)
• High Levels of Mercury in Florida Fish – f4zero.org