Englewood Water District crew able to recover approximately 2,500 gallons
Between 3,000 and 4,000 gallons of sewage was believed to have spilled on Beachwalk Drive in Englewood during the evening of July 20 after a problem occurred with a lift station, the Englewood Water District has reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).
About 2,500 gallons of the effluent was recovered, the report says. Some of the sewage did flow into a storm drain “down the road” from the site where the incident occurred, the report adds. Nonetheless, the report says, sewage was spilling only when the lift station was running.
“The ground was disinfected with lime and the road was disinfected with HTH (Chlorine),” the report points out of the spill site. Employees of the Water District had begun taking samples from the stormwater pond associated with the affected storm drain, the report says, in an effort to protect public health and safety.
The Water District staff received a call at 6:25 p.m. on July 20 about a sewage spill in BeachWalk, the report notes. The spill was halted at 6:40 p.m., the report adds.
The developer of BeachWalk had “decided to make some changes to the [solid waste] collections system” and was upgrading Lift Station No. 125 when the incident occurred, the report explains. Workers were using a bypass pump at the lift station until they could complete the upgrade, it adds.
The discharge hose on the pump came off, resulting in the spill, the report points out.
The developer is DiVosta, The Sarasota News Leader learned from the website for BeachWalk by Manasota Key.