Longboat Key sewer line spilled 26 million gallons of sewage. How did no one know?

Questions remain over why a spill of almost 26 million gallons of sewage from Longboat Key’s main sewer line near Sarasota Bay that apparently started in mid-June, wasn’t reported to state environmental officials until almost two weeks later.

Some of those questions arise from different accounts of what happened included into two separate reports about the spill submitted to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The first report was submitted by Suncoast Waterkeepers, a nonprofit organization, which reported on June 29 that the leak started as early as June 17 and that the town of Longboat Key had failed to report the required information as mandated by law.

Longboat Key sent a second revised report the next day, changing the date of the start of the incident from June 17 to June 29 and including other required information.

However, the town also acknowledges that the leak likely began on the earlier date, and that officials were unaware of it until June 29.

DEP officials Thursday said that the department did not receive the city’s report until after the report filed by Suncoast Waterkeepers.

Town officials insisted on Thursday that they reported the spill on time based on when they were confident a break in the mainline had occurred.

Assistant Town Manager Susan Phillips said there was some kind of misunderstanding in the reporting dates between the two reports that were submitted, but added that the town did not know the sewer line had broken until June 29.

Based on the estimate that almost 26 million gallons of sewage spilled from a line that carries two million gallons a day, the break did occur around June 17, the town said in its report to the state.

Town officials disagree with any notion that staff were aware a leak was taking place before June 29, however.

How did no one know?

So how did two million gallons of sewage a day leak from a municipality’s sewer line for almost 12 days without anyone knowing?

Phillips acknowledged that staff were aware there was some type of problem “a number of days” before the leak was reported.

“Here’s how it unfolded,” Phillips said. “The town wastewater staff was reading monitors and they were seeing low flow ratings for a number of days and believed there were meter and equipment issues. That’s what they were looking at and it wasn’t until June 29 that they did a flow and pressure test.”

Phillips said that’s when staff determined there had to be a leak and fulfilled their obligation to report it to the state.

“That’s the day that the town and Manatee County have been proactively working on this for days,” she said.

Phillips said the pipeline belongs to the town, though it flows into the Manatee County wastewater treatment facility.

“We are their customers, but it was the town staff that noticed the low flow,” Phillips said.

A two-million gallon drop in flow would not have been necessarily noticed by county staff given that the wastewater treatment facility takes in “many, many millions of gallons per day,” said county government spokesman Nick Azzarra.

Jeff Goodwin, deputy director of the county utilities department, said there is no alarm that would have signaled the loss of sewage, but that county staff did notice an early drop in flow.

“The flow from LBK is continuously measured, recorded and delivered to LBK staff on a daily basis,” Goodwin said. “When county staff first noticed a potential abnormal measurement, they contacted LBK staff who indicated the cause was attributable to maintenance activities they were performing on their system.”

However, Goodwin said county staff observed the low flows continued after the town’s maintenance work had been completed, at which time, “county staff communicated to LBK staff they should check for a leak in their lines and offered to assist in that effort.”

Goodwin said the county also offered to assist with the repairs but the offer was not accepted, so he could not offer insight to how the line broke.

Phillips said the June 17 date initially reported is likely close to when the leak must have started given the estimated amount of sewage spilled.

“The actual date is not yet determined and is one of the things we are working to determine,” Phillips said. “Those 12 days difference between the dates on the two reports submitted is something we can’t evaluate until all the data can pinpoint a specific date.”

The bottom line, Phillips said, is that the town submitted the report when staff determined there had been break in the 40-year-old mainline that runs under Sarasota Bay.

Phillips said the break occurred on the mainland and not in the bay, on property currently owned by developer Carlos Beruff, who is developing Aqua by the Bay.

More discrepancies

A cause for the break is still to be determined, but Phillips said, “We don’t have anything to indicate that,” the sewage got into the bay.

However, every report submitted to the state says sewage “likely” escaped into the bay given the sheer amount of sewage lost and the proximity of the bay to the spill. How much might have spilled into the water has not been determined.

Phillips said a 2016 study on the 20-inch iron mainline indicated it had 20 to 25 years of life remaining and that there have been no issues over its 40-year lifespan until now. The town does have a design for a new mainline, but it has not yet moved forward on the estimated $20 million project.

In the town’s report to the state, staff notes, “Independent environmental consultants have been engaged to determine the extent of and impacts associated with the discharge, and to identify further actions necessary to mitigate the incident. ... The amount of the discharge is still being evaluated and quantified in consideration of the anomalies.”

DEP is investigating

Shannon Hebron, public information manager for DEP, said the agency is investigating the spill.

“The department takes every un-permitted discharge seriously,” Hebron said.

The next step by DEP will be to gather and analyze information about the spill and, “to evaluate it from a regulatory perspective to determine if there were any violations,” Hebron said.

DEP also will identify any further corrective actions needed, including solutions to avoid future spills, and the potential for enforcement actions.

“The department will hold the facility accountable by identifying necessary restoration and/or remediation actions, with the possibility of enforcement including fines and penalties for associated violations,” Hebron said.

DEP is, in the short-term, relying on information submitted by the town of Longboat Key, including the claim that officials were unaware of the leak before June 29.

The leak was repaired and service was restored on the afternoon of June 30.

Longboat Key officials report that water sampling testing has begun, asrequired by law, and “sampling will continue until water quality returns to pre-spill conditions,” the report states.

However, the environmental impact has not yet been determined.

“DEP’s environmental specialists are working to obtain and review all necessary information and data to complete our regulatory review,” Hebron said. “DEP is also working to determine causes and possible solutions to prevent unauthorized discharges in the future and will continue to work closely with the facility to address these issues.”

This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 2:24 PM.