Equipment failure leads to incident, county staff reports
As a result of a sensor failure, about 1,200 gallons of sewage overflowed from Sarasota County’s Bent Tree Master Lift Station late on the afternoon of March 2, county Public Utilities staff reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).
The effluent traveled into a dry retention pond on the site near the Bent Tree Country Club, the report said. Bent Tree is east of Interstate 75 and south of Bee Ridge Road.
The county team was able to recover only about 200 gallons, with the remainder absorbed into the ground, the report added. However, the report noted, “No surface waters were impacted.”
The clean-up of the area and notifications to surrounding property owners and residents were “proceeding per protocol,” the report said.
An alarm alerted county Public Utilities Department staff to the situation, the report explained. When crews arrived at the site, the report added, they determined that a sensor designed to monitor the sewage level at the lift station had failed.
The team was able to replace the sensor and return the lift station to its regular operation, the report noted.
The lift station is part of the equipment associated with the county’s Bee Ridge Wastewater Treatment Facility, which is located at 5550 Lorraine Road in Sarasota. (See the related article in this issue.)
Crews informed FDEP that the incident began at 4 p.m. on March 2; they had the situation resolved by 4:15 p.m.