Staff at site failed to notify Utilities Department until Dec. 9
On Dec. 9, the City of Sarasota’s Utilities Department staff was notified of a spill of approximately 10,000 gallons of raw sewage at 1726 18th St., the city has reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).
The location is a facility owned by First Step of Sarasota, the Sarasota County Property Appraiser’s Office data show. First Step offers substance abuse treatment programs, its Facebook page points out.
When crew members arrived at the scene, the report says, they found a line blockage but also the fact that the cleanout cap had been removed from a lateral pipe “to allow the raw wastewater to flow into a containment ditch on the property.”
The Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority explains that a cleanout is a vertical pipe connected to an underground sewer line. “It has a removable cap for ease of maintenance access.”
After asking staff at the location “how this happened,” the report continues, the crew that arrived on Dec. 9 learned that the spill had occurred on Friday, Dec. 6, but “staff waited until the following Monday to report the issue.
“City crews cleared the blockage and vacuumed up approximately 10,000 gallons of raw wastewater from the containment area,” the report adds. “The site was hosed down, treated with lime and vacuumed up. The spill was contained entirely on site,” the report points out.
The crew arrived on the scene at 10:20 a.m. on Dec. 9 and completed its work by 3 p.m., the report notes.