Only an estimated 60,000 gallons recovered
Approximately 400,000 gallons of reclaimed water spilled on the ground at 961 S. River Road in Englewood and then flowed into a nearby drainage ditch on Nov. 23, after a primary pipeline broke, Englewood Water District staff reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).
The pipeline is part of the infrastructure associated with the District’s Water Reclamation Facility, the report explained.
A crew was able to recover only about 60,000 gallons, with two vacuum trucks and a tanker having been dispatched “to recover as much spillage as possible,” the report pointed out.
“No public bodies of water were affected,” the report noted. However, at that time, the report said, the system remained off-line, with repairs scheduled for Nov. 25 and Nov. 26.
As the District website explains, “Reclaimed water is the product of an advanced secondary process that meets all public access reuse requirements. It also meets all EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] primary and secondary drinking water standards, except color, odor, and TDS [total dissolved solids].”
The website adds, “Lemon Bay Golf Club, Myakka Pines Golf Club, Boca Royale Golf Club, Oyster Creek Golf Course, Lemon Bay High School (Athletic Fields), Ann Dever Memorial Regional Park, the Englewood Sports Complex,” [and Gran Paradiso in Venice use reclaimed water for irrigation.
The incident appeared to have begun about 7 p.m. on Nov. 23, the report pointed out. When staff members of the District’s Water Reclamation Facility arrived at work at 7 a.m. on Nov. 24, the report continued, they discovered “that the outgoing flow to the field was abnormally high,” approximately 500 gallons per minute above normal, the report added.
Field crews were notified at 7:03 a.m. about the potential of a main reuse water pipeline break, the report noted, so the “field crews began checking the areas where the reuse main runs and were able to locate the break” at 7:50 a.m. The reuse system was shut down, and valves were closed on both sides of the line break, the report added.
The spill ended by 8 a.m. on Nov. 24, the report said.