Workers recover only about 600 gallons
On Tuesday, Aug. 13, a crack in a 6-inch Sarasota County sewer force main resulted in about 1,450 gallons of sewage spilling at the intersection of South Lockwood Ridge Road and Webber Street, county Public Utilities Department staff has reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).
Workers were able to recover about 600 gallons from the site, the report noted.
The spill began at 10 a.m., with repairs taking until 1:15 p.m., the report said. Workers traveled to the scene after receiving notification that sewage was coming up from the ground at the intersection, which is almost midway between the intersections of Tuttle Avenue and Webber Street and Beneva Road and Webber Street. The site also is just east of Phillippi Creek.
Cleanup of the site and notifications for surrounding property owners and residents proceeded per county protocol, the report added. Because surface waters were affected, sampling “is necessary,” the report pointed out.
As the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) explains, “Force mains are pipelines that convey wastewater under pressure from the discharge side of a pump or pneumatic ejector to a discharge point. Pumps or compressors located in a lift station provide the energy for wastewater conveyance in force mains.”
The sewer force main referenced in this FDEP report is part of the infrastructure that serves the Central County Water Reclamation Facility, which stands on Palmer Ranch, the report said.
The affected pipeline is in an area that experienced high rainfall from Tropical Storm Debby last week. In an online search, The Sarasota News Leader found a number of research papers about the effects of flooding on water and sewer infrastructure.
A June 2021 case study undertaken by The Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, which focused on the effects of Hurricanes Florence and Matthew on North Carolina water and wastewater utilities, pointed out, “On the wastewater side, the threat of environmental harm due to overwhelmed systems is almost expected during extreme rain events. As pressure mounts both inside and outside of old pipes … any vulnerability almost certainly becomes a line break.”