Health alert issued for multiple popular Palm Beach County waterways after sewage spill
A sewage line break spewing an average of 2 million gallons of wastewater per day west of Lake Worth Beach may not be contained until Sunday as workers struggle to plug the 3-foot-wide pipe that is 20-feet underground.
The break, which Lake Worth Beach Utilities Director Sam Heady said was caused Tuesday night by a contractor working for AT&T, triggered a widespread health alert about the potential for high bacteria levels in nine waterways and lakes, including popular Lake Clarke and Lake Osborne.
Other areas included in the Florida Department of Health’s no swim advisory include the C-51 canal between Lake Worth Beach and Palm Beach, the L-10 and L-9 canals, Grassy Saw Lake, Keller Lake and any “other nearby water bodies connected” to those specifically listed. The health department also cautioned against pulling from those waterways for irrigation.
Drinking water is not affected.
Heady said people are working around the clock to contain what he described as the worst sewage rupture that Lake Worth Beach utilities has ever dealt with. While the break is in unincorporated Palm Beach County near Florida Mango Road and Garden Drive, the line is maintained by Lake Worth Beach and takes flows from eight communities to a master pump station.
“This is one of those scenarios that everyone practices for and hopes never happens,” Heady said. “I don’t know of anything else of this magnitude that’s happened here.”
Staff from the Department of Environmental Protection, Lake Worth Drainage District, and multiple municipalities are working to stop the flow of sewage, which at two million gallons amounts to three Olympic-sized pools per day.
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DEP Southeast District Director Sirena Davila said the agency is overseeing efforts by Lake Worth Beach Utilities to stop the spill as soon as possible “while minimizing impacts to the region's public health and natural resources.”
As of late Wednesday, the sewage was being directed to a holding area in the L-10 canal that was created by building two earthen cofferdams. The L-10 canal parallels 10th Avenue North. The cordoned-off area is between Congress Avenue and Florida Mango Road.
Lake Worth Drainage District Executive Director Tommy Strowd said dirt was pushed into the canal to create the cofferdams, which are about 1 foot above the water level. He said he’s hopeful with little rain in the forecast that the contaminated water won’t overtop the berms.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty in the scenario we are dealing with,” said Strowd, who called the break “significant.”
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In February, the same area suffered a separate sewage line break that caused about 336,000 gallons of sewage to be released. That incident, which was in the City of Palm Springs, involved only a 16-inch pipe.
“This line is 20 feet underground and probably has 15 feet of water on top of it,” Heady said Thursday afternoon. “We haven’t been able to physically see the damage yet.”
Up to 12 vacuum trucks are working to suck solid materials out of the water. Eight to 10 aerators have been placed in the canal to increase biodegradation of organic matter.
Heady said water is being tested downstream of the leak for bacteria levels but results were not back Thursday afternoon. About two million gallons were released before the cofferdams were in place.
While the C-51 canal leads directly to the Lake Worth Lagoon, no water is being discharged into the estuary.
Kimberly Miller is a veteran journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate and how growth affects South Florida's environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Potential for high bacteria levels from sewage break force health alert
