Longboat Key spilled 26 million gallons of sewage. The cleanup has not started yet

It took 12 days for the town of Longboat Key to determine they were in the midst what could be the largest raw sewage spill in Manatee County history near Sarasota Bay.

More than a week later, the town has yet to offer answers as to what happened and cleanup efforts have yet to begin on the 26-million gallon sewage spill caused by a break in the town’s main sewage line, which occurred on the mainland near developer Carlos Beruff’s Aqua by the Bay development on Longbar Point.

Questions also linger as to whether the town fulfilled its reporting obligations to the state given two conflicting reports filed with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The respective reports included different start dates for the incident, though town officials insist their report was filed when they were confident a leak had occurred.

The lack of answers has drawn the ire of U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, who toured areas of the bay this past weekend. He called the entire situation “unacceptable.”

Buchanan told the Bradenton Herald he spoke with town officials on Tuesday morning. Buchanan said he wanted to, “make sure every step was being taken to resolve the situation and prevent future leaks,” but he walked away without definitive answers.

Buchanan said Sarasota Bay is a national treasure that has to be protected at all costs. Town officials, Buchanan said, are still working with Manatee County and the state, “to determine what they need to do for cleanup.”

“We need to get to the bottom of what happened, whether it was immediately reported and how do we prevent this from ever happening again,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan said he reminded the town that Sarasota Bay, “Is one of 28 estuaries that has been designated by Congress as an estuary of national significance.” Legislation adopted earlier this year almost doubled to $50 million the annual funding to to preserve and protect the bay, its estuaries and wildlife.

As of Tuesday, water sampling tests had been taken, but the town reports it will wait to evaluate those tests before determining their next step..

Town officials pledged transparency with the public, but have posted only one update to the public on their website.. The update Monday did not offer key details on what happened. A request for an update on Wednesday offered nothing new.

“Town staff continues to investigate to determine the exact cause for the leak,“ said Susan Phillips, assistant to the town manager. “Testing continues based on protocols recommended by our environmental consultant. We also continue working with our environmental consultant and DEP to analyze data, and coordinate for mitigation efforts.”

Phillips declined to answer questions about why cleanup has been put on hold pending more tests.

By all accounts, the sewage line that runs underneath Sarasota Bay and to the Manatee County’s treatment plan began spewing sewage around June 17. Despite daily information and subsequent warnings from the county that the town was having a problem, town staff did not determine there was a leak until June 29.

“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,” said Jeff Goodwin, Manatee County utilities deputy director. “When they completed maintenance activities and abnormal flow measurements continued to be observed, county staff communicated to LBK staff they should check for a leak in their line and offered to assist in that effort.”

Goodwin said once the leak was discovered by Longboat Key staff 12 days after it began, “County staff offered to assist, however, we were not involved in the repair,” so could not offer insight into the cause of the break.

Town officials remain silent on cause of break

The line was repaired June 30 and service was restored. More than a week later, the town has yet to offer a determination for the break or begin a cleanup.

In a brief statement by Town Manager Tom Harmer on Monday, he said on the town’s website, “The town continues to evaluate the impacts of the recent wastewater line leak in coordination with Florida Department of Environmental Protection and ESA, our environmental consultant.”

Water quality testing began July 1 and more samples were taken on July 3. According to town officials, cleanup efforts, if any, will be based on the testing that will “shape our response for any required mitigation efforts.”

The town included the numbers related to the water testing in their Monday release, but offered the public no explanation on what those numbers mean.

Testing showed high levels of Enterococci, a bacteria associated with feces, in two areas close to the spill site.

According to Shannon Herbon, spokeswoman for DEP, the highest acceptable amount of the bacteria is 130 cells per 100 milliliters of water.

In the July 1 testing , one sampling showed 150 cells while another showed 700 cells per 100 milliliters of water. E. Coli counts were also significantly higher than other water samples collected away from the spill . Fecal Coliform counts were also well above standards.

Two days later, E. Coli and fecal Ccoliform counts were even higher in one location near the spill while Enterococci counts dropped, to 300 cells per 100 milliliters of water, still above the state standard.

According to Herbon, the spill is the largest in recent memory. Twenty-six million gallons could fill almost 40 Olympic size swimming pools.

“The department is still investigating,” she said.

This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 10:51 AM.