14,000 gallons flow into dry retention pond on March 30
On March 30, 10 days after a similar incident occurred, staff of the Sarasota Public Utilities Department reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) that 14,000 gallons of raw sewage had flowed from the headworks of the Bee Ridge Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) in Sarasota into a dry retention pond on-site.
The latest staff notification came on April 2, the FDEP document showed.
On March 20, county staff reported to FDEP that approximately 24,000 gallons of raw sewage was diverted to the same pond.
Staff has characterized both situations as abnormal events, the reports explained.
The Bee Ridge Water Reclamation Facility stands at 5550 Lorraine Road in Sarasota.
The March 30 occurrence resulted when new, fine screens that had been installed in the wastewater treatment plant’s headworks failed to begin functioning, the report pointed out. The incident was halted three minutes later, the report added.
“Everything was contained” on-site at the facility on March 30, just as on March 20, the report to FDEP said. Likewise, the April 2 report continued, “No waterways were affected,” so no water sampling was required in an effort to protect public safety. Cleanup of the property and notifications were “proceeding per protocol,” that report also noted.
County Public Utilities and Capital Projects staff members were “working closely” with the manufacturer of the fine screens, Hydro-Dyne Engineering of Clearwater, and employees of Garney Construction, which is based in Kansas City, Missouri, “to identify the cause and implement a solution to minimize impacts to the Utility and prevent recurrence,” the April 2 report said.
The March 20 wastewater diversion occurred as contractors were performing routine maintenance and repairs on the “headworks screens,” that report said.
JWC Environmental of Santa Ana, Calif., points out on its website, “The treatment of municipal sewage at any wastewater treatment plant all starts at the same place — at the headworks screens.”
The website adds, “It is critical to have some level of primary treatment protection at the headworks of a treatment plant. If the plant is fed from a combined sewer system there is the possibility tires, tree branches, lumber, or other heavy objects can damage downstream treatment equipment. Automatic bar screens, which screen out heavier debris utilizing closely spaced vertical bars, are one potential level of primary treatment protection.”
Garney explains on its website that it has been serving as the construction manager at risk (CMAR) for the expansion of the treatment capacity of the Bee Ridge WRF from 12 million gallons of sewage a day to 18 million gallons per day. As Trimble points out, CMAR is a project delivery method through which “the owner hires a construction manager (CM) to oversee the project from design to construction close-out and deliver it with a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) provided to the owner prior to the bid stage. Because the CM could be responsible for paying the difference when going over budget, the CM must closely manage the project budget and schedule to stay within the GMP.”
Representatives of Hydro-Dyne Engineering were scheduled to be at the Bee Ridge WRF on April 8, “to further evaluate the issue and assist with troubleshooting efforts,” the April 2 report added.
County Public Utilities staff also would be working with the county’s Risk Management staff in regard to whether the county should pursue damages from Hydro-Dyne as a result of the March 30 incident, the report indicated.