Fats, oil and grease blamed for incident
A blockage late last week in a line leading into a Sarasota County lift station resulted in the spill of approximately 3,000 gallons of sewage at 3700 Monica Parkway in north Sarasota, east of North Lockwood Ridge Road, county Public Utilities Department staff has reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).
A crew was able to recover about 2,000 gallons of fluid combining sewage and stormwater, the advisory notes.
As the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) explains, “Wastewater lift stations are facilities designed to move wastewater from lower to higher elevation through pipes. Key elements of lift stations include a wastewater receiving well (wet-well), often equipped with a screen or grinding to remove coarse materials; pumps and piping with associated valves; motors; a power supply system; an equipment control and alarm system; and an odor control system and ventilation system.”
The incident began at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 10, the notice sent to FDEP says. Public Utilities staff members responding to a possible sanitary sewer overflow found the blockage in the Monica Lift Station, “along with large amounts of fats, oil, and grease (FOG) inside the lift station wet well,” staff reported.
“Staff cleared the blocked line and used vacuum trucks to remove the [fats, oil and grease] from the lift station,” the advisory said. “The spill was stopped at approximately 3 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 11, it added.
An updated report to FDEP, which was released on Jan. 14, pointed to another issue. It said that upon their investigation into the source of the problems, staff members also discovered that “internal drop pipe brackets had failed, causing the drop pipe to fall and rest in the channel, which obstructed flow.”
No surface waters were affected, the reports pointed out.
Cleanup of the site and notifications to surrounding property owners and residents were proceeding according to county protocol, the reports continued.
“Events like this have decreased significantly since the conception of our FOG [Fats, Oil, Grease] program,” the initial report noted. “Our FOG program regulates establishments that could potentially discharge FOG into our system and promotes educational information for our community.”
As the county webpage for the program explains, “As of Jan. 1, 2020, all regulated businesses are required to operate effective grease traps and interceptors and to pay program fees to support initiatives such as grease trap/interceptor inspections. The goal is to prevent sanitary sewer blockages and overflows that adversely impact public health and the environment.”
