Rio Vista sewer pipe leak stopped
Damage over nine days still being tallied by officials
Nine days of sewage spewing into Fort Lauderdale’s Rio Vista neighborhood and the Tarpon River ended early Wednesday when crews finished attaching and activating an above-ground bypass pipe to carry wastewater around the sewer line’s broken section.
City Manager Chris Lagerbloom still can’t provide an estimate of how much sewage spilled out during the leak, though it’s likely to be in the millions of gallons. While Lagerbloom described it as a “fairly simple mathematical formula,” he said the number wouldn’t be available until “the next day or so.”
He said the focus has been on getting the leak stopped. The outflow was cut off at 3:04 a.m. Wednesday, officials said.
Work on replacing the broken section of the 54-inch pipe by David Mancini & Sons and city crews started up after that and is expected to be completed by Saturday at the latest, Lagerbloom said.
People should continue avoiding water-related activities on the Tarpon River and other waterways in the area. Lagerbloom said the water advisory would remain in effect until water tests showed bacteria levels had returned to acceptable levels. The activities include swimming, fishing, jet-skiing, paddle-boarding, kayaking and canoeing.
State health officials said the city’s beaches have not been affected by the spill.
Living on ‘Poop’ de Leon Drive
Officials don’t know how long it will be before life returns to normal on Ponce de Leon Drive, where yards were directly affected by the spill.
Pumps and tanker trucks worked around the clock to contain as much of the untreated sewage as possible until the leak was stopped.
Crews from Clifford Berry Inc. have been working daily to clean and sanitize streets and yards in Rio Vista as the strong smell forced a number of residents to flee their homes. That work will continue “until we are satisfied that restoration of the site is complete,” Mayor Dean Trantalis said.
The company will also have three boats on the river and surrounding canals daily between 8 a.m. and dark, Trantalis said, skimming the water and removing debris.
Rio Vista residents say there is still a long road ahead as they deal with cleaning up their properties. The city is handing out information sheets to residents about protecting their health and handling clean-up on their properties.
“Those will be going out to this neighborhood today,” Lagerbloom said. “It will highlight how our claims process happens and a little bit about what to expect between now and when this pipe repair is finished.”
Those wanting information about filing claims should contact the city’s Risk Management Department at 954-828-5177.
Underground time bombs
City officials have not determined the cause of the break, but the city’s massive development in recent years hasn’t helped, Trantalis said.
“The reality is, when the pipes were installed in the 1960s and 1970s, I don’t think they anticipated the amount of sewage we are seeing today,” Trantalis said.
The spill is likely to be one of the largest in city history. It is probably the largest since December 2016, when 2.5 million gallons washed through the Tarpon River neighborhood west of Southwest Fourth Avenue.
There were other large spills that year, which led the state to require the city to put together a plan for fixing its aging sewer system. Those disasters included:
■ A 10.6-million gallon spill when a sewer pipe burst under the Himmarshee Canal in June 2016. It took 25 hours to stop and polluted waterways around Las Olas Boulevard.
■ Another 3.2 million gallons spewed over 10 hours that day into the Middle River because of a separate pipe break at George English Park north of Sunrise Boulevard. Another million gallons leaked into the water when workers diverted some of the sewage into a “previously broken and out of service” 48-year-old, underwater pipe.
■ A 1.8-million gallon rupture took place in February 2016 at the Regal Trace Apartments off Sistrunk Boulevard, when a 42-year-old, cast-iron pipe gave way.
The spill took nine hours to stop.
The spill could be on par with one that occurred in January in Pompano Beach, when a contractor cut into a sewer line and sent sewage flowing into the nearby C-1 Canal. It took Pompano crews six days to stop that leak.
It cost the city $2.8 million to pay for the repairs and clean-up. A total of 52 million gallons was released into the canal, which county officials say is the largest spill on record in the county.
Fort Lauderdale officials have known for years about the failing condition of the city’s water, wastewater and stormwater systems. The Rio Vista sewer pipe that broke last week was identified as needing replacement in 2010, but the project went unfunded until November, just a week before the break, when commissioners approved $19 million in new projects.
Trantalis said the city plans to invest at least $600 million over the next five years “in new sewer mains, water pipes, pump stations, storm drains, tidal valves, catch basins and other projects to strengthen our infrastructure for the future.”
State keeping an eye on efforts
The state forced the city to agree in 2017 to make repairs because of the frequent breaks to its sewer lines. That agreement covers $117.5 million in required sewer system repairs and improvements, including specific deadlines over a nine-year period and the city faces fines for new sewage spills.
On Tuesday, the state sent a letter documenting 19 sewage spills during a year-long period ending in September 2019 and assessing $56,500 in fines. The state listed four spills of more than 100,000 gallons, one exceeding 25,000 gallons, two of more than 10,000 gallons, one topping 5,000 gallons and 11 of more than 1,000 gallons.
The maximum fine is $10,000 a day for spills exceeding 100,000 gallons, which means the Rio Vista break could cost the city $80,000 or more in penalties.