Poop pours onto State Road 64 after contractor breaks same sewage line they broke last week

A construction worker for IBT Construction — for the second time in a little more than a week — broke the same sewage line in East Manatee as they did last week, causing raw sewage to spill onto State Road 64 near Rye Road.

Last week’s incident spilled 4,000 gallons of raw sewage. About 2 a.m. Friday morning, about 1,800 gallons of sewage spilled, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

In a public notice of pollution, the DEP reports that the worker hit an eight-inch force main with a backhoe.

DEP reports staff was able to shut down the lift stations that feed the force main to stop the leak and repair the pipe.

“All discharged wastewater was contained in an excavation dug by the contractor,” DEP reports, which noted no surface waters were affected by the spill.

The pipe was repaired and service was restored by 6 a.m. and the standing wastewater that was in the excavation pit was vacuumed up and returned to the collections system.