City to pay millions to dredge sewage

It will cost Fort Lauderdale $1.5 million to remove 62,000 pounds of toxic sediment from the river bottom

FORT LAUDERDALE — Fort Lauderdale will have to spend millions to repair the damage from a series of sewage spills that sullied its waterways nearly a year ago.

Some of the sludge settled in the Tarpon River, leaving a layer of muck about an inch thick, Fort Lauderdale officials say.

It will cost $1.5 million to dredge up to 62,000 pounds of toxic sediment from the river bottom, Public Works Director Raj Verma told the city commission on Tuesday.

Mayor Dean Trantalis says the dredging project is just the start of a multi-phase, multi-stage plan to return the Tarpon River to its former state.

“You’re talking about remediation now,” he said. “Ultimately we’ll talk about restoration. We want to take it from a stream of sewage to a babbling brook … to a place where wildlife and nature can return to that setting.”

Dredging George English Lake, another waterway tainted by sewage, will cost another $500,000. Crews will need to remove up to 54,800 pounds of sludge, according to a consultant’s report.

City officials aren’t sure yet much it will cost to dredge the Himmarshee Canal or how many pounds of muck will need to be removed.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection ordered the city to dredge all three waterways after record-breaking sewage spills between Dec. 10 and Feb. 14.

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.

Sludge settled along a 400-foot-long section of Tarpon River east of the Southeast Ninth Avenue bridge, Verma said.

Crews will dredge 12 inches deep into the riverbed, Verma said. Geotubes will be used to suction contaminated sediments from the river bottom. Then the sludge will be hauled away to a landfill.

Fort Lauderdale plans to dredge 800 feet of the Tarpon River — an extra 200 feet on either side of the affected area, Verma said.

Another 300 feet of George English Park also needs dredging.

City officials have yet to determine which sections of the Himmarshee Canal require remediation.

The state slapped Fort Lauderdale with a $2.1 million fine months ago for the sewage spills.

Just weeks ago, the city agreed to spend $3.2 million on environmental restoration projects in lieu of paying the fine.

That’s in addition to the three dredging projects, Verma said.

JOE CAVARETTA/ SOUTH FLORIDASUN SENTINEL Raw sewage is pumped into the Tarpon River on Dec. 11 to keep it from flooding into homes in Fort Lauderdale’s Rio Vista neighborhood.