City says pipes will continue to break

Latest sewage spill at George English Park on Monday

FORT LAUDERDALE – The old and creaky pipes that make up Fort Lauderdale’s underground sewer system have failed a staggering 11 times in the past 10 weeks, state records show.

And chances are, they’re going to fail again, city officials warn.

Crews rushed in to respond to the latest sewage spill on Monday, the second at George English Park in 26 days.

“I can’t predict the frequency, but, until we replace the aging infrastructure, we will have more breaks,” Commissioner Heather Moraitis said. “Over the next five years, we are replacing 120 miles of sewer line and about 60 miles of water mains most vulnerable [to breaking]. We are racing as fast as we can.”

Between Dec. 10 and Feb. 8, Fort Lauderdale’s crumbling sewer pipes spilled 211.6 million gallons of sewage into waterways and streets, a state record that netted Fort Lauderdale a $1.8 million fine last week.

The back-to-back breaks seem to have reached a fever pitch, leaving some to question why they’re happening with such frequency.

It all comes down to

physics, experts say.

One break can put hydraulic stress on the entire system and lead to an expanding web of failures, said Dr. Frederick Bloetscher, an engineering professor at Florida Atlantic University.

“They’re in a pattern right now,” he said Monday. “You fix one leak and there’s another weak point. And it keeps breaking at all the weak spots. You have pipes due to be replaced. And until you replace them, they’re going to break more frequently. It’s pipe fatigue.”

Monday’s spill was reported to the city at 6:17 a.m., state records show.

“More toilets get flushed in the morning and more showers get taken then,” Bloetscher said. “So you’re stressing the system more in the morning.”

On top of that, more people flock to Fort Lauderdale during the winter, from tourists to snowbirds. That means more commodes getting flushed and more water from showers and sinks draining into the pipes.

“So you have more stress on the system,” Bloetscher said.

Mayor Dean Trantalis has asked the very same question about why all the pipes are breaking now.

“The fact that we are replacing these pipes is causing fluctuations in pressure that under normal circumstances [if the pipes weren’t so old] would not have impacted the infrastructure,” he said.

Monday’s spill at George English Park involved the same 14-inch pipe that broke in 2016, Trantalis said. Four years ago, that pipe was patched and not replaced.

“The break today could have been prevented if we had replaced the pipe instead of just patching it,” he said. “Our [current] policy is to replace all piping. But in the meantime, we will do a bypass line to stem the flow of the break.”

Just like people, pipes have a life expectancy, said Mel Entus, a retired utilities director who lives in Plantation.

“It’s happening because they have not maintained the system over the years,” he said. “You have to maintain the pipes and Fort Lauderdale has not done that. If the pipe were new and you did a bypass, it wouldn’t break. But as pipes get older, they become more fragile. Pipes disintegrate from the inside. And if you do a bypass on an old pipe, of course you are going to increase the odds of that pipe breaking.”

Sand creeping in through cracks also shortens the pipes’ lifespans, said Ralph Zeltman, a retired county engineer who sits on the city’s infrastructure task force.

“The walls of the pipes have been getting thinner and eventually they fail,” Zeltman said. “If one section goes, it puts a strain on the adjacent connecting pipes. It’s a fragile eggshell pipe prone to failure as a function of time. Until they get that vintage pipe replaced we are going to have failures. That’s the nature of the beast.”

Fort Lauderdale officials issued the following tips Monday:

Stay out of the water

A precautionary advisory for water-related recreational activities remains in effect for the George English Lagoon, Middle River and surrounding waterways. The boundaries of the advisory are as follows: 2500 N. Federal Highway on the north and Rio Barcelona Canal on the south side of Sunrise Key.

People should not swim, fish, jet-skiing, paddle boarding, kayak or canoe in the affected area.

George English Lagoon and the George English Park Boat Ramp are closed until further notice.

Safety tips

Neighbors in the affected areas are reminded to avoid contact with any standing water.

If contact is made, wash your hands with soap and warm water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer immediately after contact.

Repair work

Crews continue to remove discharge from Bayview Drive between Sunrise Boulevard and Northeast 11th Street using pumps, tanker and vacuum trucks.

Excavation work was expected to start overnight to expose the break in the pipe, assess the extent of damage and begin repair work.

Road closures

Bayview Drive is closed in both directions from south of Northeast 11th Street to Sunrise Boulevard.

Motorists can use Northeast 25th Avenue and Northeast 11th Street as detours.

Motorists dropping off or picking up students at Bayview Elementary should expect heavy traffic and delays.