How dirty are Fort Lauderdale’s water ways?
City proposes hiring nonprofit group to test for bacteria on a weekly basis
FORT LAUDERDALE — A series of record-breaking se wages pills that sent more than 200million gallons of toxic sludge into Fort Lauderdale water ways has some asking: Just how dirty is the water?
The city, long known as the Venice of America for its 165 miles of canal sand water ways, is preparing to find out.
Fort Lauderdale has drawn up a contract with the nonprofit group Miami Waterkeeper to test 10 popular recreation areas weekly for fecal bacteria. Under the proposal, Fort Lauderdale will pay Miami Water keeper $97,750 a year to test the water every single week — the first time the city has ever tested at such frequency and at so many locations.
Testing would get underway before the end of the year, after the contract is signed. Results would be posted on the group’s website and free and easy-to-read www. swimguide.org.
“We are on everyone’s line of sight right now in terms of water quality ,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean T rant alis said .“If we have contaminated water for whatever reason, we need to alert the community.”
Fort Lauderdale is already under a state order to dredge and clean three water ways affected by sewage spills that began nearly
a year ago. Plans are underway to dredge sections of the Tarpon River, George English Lake and the Himmarshee Canal.
But this latest initiative is something Fort Lauderdale is doing on its own in response to a call from critics, said Public Works Director Raj Verma.
“The residents wanted this testing,” Verma said. “They believe the water is unsafe. Inmy professional opinion, it is no more dangerous than any other part of Broward County. But people have a right to suspect that [the water is dirty] because of the large volume of sewage that wound up in the water. That is playing a role in their thought process.”
One of the most vocal critics has been Suzee Bailey, a Fort Lauderdale resident who says she contracted a MR SA sta ph infection in January after paddleboarding near Rio Vista, the neighborhood hit with a series of sewage spills in December.
“I was on antibiotics for one month” said Bailey, president of the Nurmi Isles Homeowners Association .“I won’t go in the water now. I won’ t risk it if I have an open wound. I can’t be 100% sure [I got it from paddling], but the doctors said itwas likely how I got it. Now with the testing, people will know where it’s safe to swim.”
Demands for testing
Tim Myers, amemberof the954 Paddle Crew, also urged the city to start testing the waterways.
The Fort Lauderdale-based paddling group trains on the Middle River just north of George English Park. But when these wage spills struck, they stayed out of the water for more than three months, from December through mid-March.
One paddler who didn’ t stay out of the water ended up getting sick, Myers said. “She ended up with MRSA,” he said. “She was outrigger canoeing in early January near George English Park. Shewas sick for a couple weeks. Thedoctor put her on antibiotics.”
More than 211.6 million gallons of sewage leaked from Fort Lauderdale’ s aging pipes into waterways and streets — the state’s largest spill on record— between December 2019 and February 2020.
The bulk of it wound up in the Tarpon River, where it was pumped to keep sewage from seeping into homes in the city’s Rio Vista neighborhood.
An aging 42-inch sewer pipe that runs under the Middle River spewed more than 79 million gallons of sewage into George English Lake over a 10-day period that began on Jan. 30.
Recent tests show that sludge settled along a 400-foot-long section of Tarpon River east of the Southeast Ninth Avenue bridge. It will cost $1.5million to dredge up to 62,000 pounds of toxic sediment from the riverbed. Another 300 feet of George English Park needs dredging, at a cost of $500,000.
City officials are still researching how many pounds of muck will need to be removed from the Himmarshee Canal and how much it will cost, Verma said.
Breakings ewer pipes are not the only pollutant fouling the waterways, city officials say. Leaking septic tanks and fertilizer runoff can also create the perfect petri dish for bacteria to thrive.
Bacteria levels can be influenced on a daily and even hourly basis by several factors, experts say. That includes the tides; rainfall; stormwater runoff, particularly from pet waste and landscaping debris; manatees and other wildlife; live-aboard boaters who dump their waste overboard; and boats emptying their holding tanks inthe waterway.
A sewage spill almost always triggers testing of the water. The city is also required to issue a “no swim advisory” warning people to stay outof the particular section of waterway tainted by the spill.
“Each time we had a sewer break we had to test ona daily basis until the numbers came back normal,” Verma said. “Each time there is a sewer spill that reaches a waterbody, no matter how small, water quality is tested. If the results indicate high [levels of bacteria], a recreation advisory is issued immediately. Samples are taken daily until the readings are within the normal parameters.”
In addition, Broward County routinely tests waterways in Fort Lauderdale four times a year.
Critics like Bailey say that’s just not frequent enough.
“There’s a lot of people in these waters kayaking, paddleboarding and swimming,” Bailey said. “It’s important for us to keep our water ways healthy. If there’ s as pill, the city tests. But as soon as they get a clean test they stop testing. And that’s what concerned so many of us. We wanted them to keep testing.”
Bailey says she’s looking forward to seeing Miami Water keeper post results every week on its Swim Guide app.
“You can go on our city website to see results from the county’s tests, but it wasn’t easy to find,” Bailey said. “We suggested they test 10 areas and post the results on the Swim Guide app. Then if you’re going to go swimming or paddling, you’ll have some information and know where it’s safe to go.”
You can’t always smell it
Myers, of the 954 Paddle Crew, says the Swim Guide app will be a handy guide because you can’t always smell or see sewage even when you’re out on the water.
“That’s one of the problemswith sewage leaks,” he said. “The water is brown and brackish anyway. You can’t smell it unless there’s amajor break. Large breaks downstream get diluted. But that doesn’t mean it’s not toxic. You just can’ t smell it .”
Frequent testing of the water will give paddlers and swimmers peace of mind, Myers said.
“Until this testing is done, they’re always at risk,” hesaid. “It’s hard to know [where it’s safe togo] because the water ways are not that clean.”
Myers says smart paddlers just assume the water is dirty and take precautions.
“We shower off after we’re done,” hesaid. “We do the sanitizer thing. Ifwe have cuts we don’t get in the water.”
Launched in 2010, Miami Water keeper already has contracts with Miami and Key Biscayne to test their water on aweekly basis.
After the contract is signed, testing in Fort Lauderdale would get underway as soon as November or December, said Rachel Silverstein, executive director of Miami Waterkeeper. The waterways will be tested for enterococci, a fecal-indicating bacteria.
Swimming in water with high levels of bacteria can cause gastrointestinal distress and irritation of the eyes, ears and skin, the group’s website warns.
“I can’t speak to people’s past risks, but I can speak to the fact that thec ommunity is concerned,” Silverstein said. “They want to be able to use their waterways and the water belongs to all of us. And it’s important for us to know the bacteria levels. It’s really a positive step forward to have the data available in an easy-to-read app.”
The Swim Guide app uses a “stoplight” format, with green indicating good water quality and red indicating poor water quality:
Samples will be collected and processed every Tuesday. Results will be posted online through the Swim Guide a pp Wednesday of the sameweek, no later than 7 p.m.
In addition to weekly testing, Miami Waterkeeper will retest on Thursday when the counts of enterococci indicate poor water quality.
10 testing sites
The following 10 sites are slated for testing:
The SandBar (sampled from SE 10th Street).
Lake Sylvia( sampled from parking area at the end of Harbor Beach Parkway).
Middle River (sampled at George English Park kayak launch).
Sunrise Bay (sampled from Birch State Park).
Sweeting Park (North Fork of the New River).
Coontie Hatchee Park (South Fork of the New River).
Tarpon River (sampled at SE Ninth Avenue Bridge or from an alternative sampling location at South Rio Vista Boulevard).
Himmarshee Canal (sampled at Las Olas Boulevard).
Royal Palm Drive (sampled at Las Olas Boulevard).
Annie Beck Park (sampled at the waterway stairs).