Sewage Leak Sends 26 Million Gallons into Sarasota Bay Wetlands

BRADENTON – On Monday, Suncoast Waterkeeper reported that a leak in the Town of Longboat Key's 20-inch ductile iron wastewater force main that crosses Sarasota Bay and terminates at the Manatee County Wastewater Treatment Facility had started as early as June 17.The leak has caused around 26 million gallons of sewage to spill into Wetlands adjacent to Sarasota Bay.

Longboat Key officials say the leak occurred within a section of pipe located on undeveloped land leading to the wastewater treatment facility (not within the portion of the pipe located beneath Sarasota Bay). They added that, initially, Town and Manatee County Utilities staff believed there may have been meter and equipment issues causing anomalous flow readings before the discovery of the break.

Longboat Key sent a revised report on Tuesday, changing the date of the start of the incident from June 17 to June 29, though they acknowledged that it probably began on the earlier date and that officials were unaware of it until June 29.

Longboat Key says it has hired contractor E.T. MacKenzie of Florida, Inc. to gain access to the point of break and implement a repair. The town says it also coordinated and managed a shutdown of the lift station collection system for the contractor to be able to access and assess the broken pipe.

According to Longboat Key, once the point of failure was identified and a repair plan had been established and staged, they managed a system shut down to accomplish the repair. The pipe was repaired and placed back into service at 5:30 pm on June 30, 2020. Independent environmental consultants have been engaged to determine the extent of and impacts associated with the discharge and to identify further actions necessary to mitigate the incident.

Longboat Key reported a preliminary discharge to FDEP on June 30, 2020, roughly estimated at 25.8 million gallons based on available data from Town and Manatee County flow meter differentials. The amount of the discharge is still being evaluated and quantified in consideration of the anomalies.