Broken Main Discharged 1 Million Gallons Of Raw Sewage In Florida
By Peak Johnson
More than 1 million gallons of raw sewage went into a canal that leads to Central Florida’s Banana River, after an old sewer pipe broke last week near the border of Satellite Beach and Indian Harbour Beach.
"It's 20-year-old pipe," Don Walker, spokesman for Brevard County told Florida Today. "It's kind of a problem we've got all over the county."
The county had asked residents to curtail their water use in the hours following the leak to reduce impacts to the sewers. To prevent sewage backups at homes and businesses, the county diverted 688,000 gallons of raw sewage into a pond near Sea Park Elementary School and 1.05 million gallons of raw sewage into Anchor Drive Canal, which connects with the Banana River.
A similar spill happened in the same area of South Patrick Drive in November 2012. The county leaked sewage into the same canal when a pipe failed. A pipe discharged 60,000 gallons of sewage for several hours, until the pipe could be sealed.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection at the time found no wrongdoing, so it did not fine the county.
Repairing the leaking sewer force main was complicated by excessive inflow of groundwater in the excavation area, county officials said, because it was so close to a canal. The pipe was 9 feet underground.
Utility staff and two contractors worked around the clock for 38 hours, reported Florida Today.
"After the first 24 hours, the ability to store and/or haul sewage was exhausted, so the decision was made to divert sewage to a nearby canal to prevent backups into streets, homes or businesses," County Manager Stockton Whitten said. "Additional staff and equipment was brought in to complete the repair as quickly as possible."
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