Longboat Key’s main sewer pipe breaks, spilling sewage
LONGBOAT KEY — The Town of Longboat Key’s aging and central sewer pipe that pumps the town’s wastewater under Sarasota Bay to the Manatee County Wastewater Treatment Facility recently ruptured, spilling an unknown volume of sewage for nearly two weeks into Sarasota Bay.
The rupture, which was expected to take days to fix, initially prompted the town to urge all commercial, resort and residential properties to minimize water and wastewater use to control the amount of effluent moving through the underwater pipeline until it could be repaired. The repairs were completed late Tuesday.
Records show the spill began on June 17 but Longboat Key did not publicly report the issue until Monday, nearly two weeks later.
It’s unclear why notification was not initially given. Public Works Director Isaac Brownman was not made available for comment.
The spill’s cause has yet to be determined and cleanup was to start after the release was stopped. Though the amount of sewage spilled wasn’t immediately estimated, it spill was considered significant.
The pipeline carries approximately 2 million gallons of sewage to the mainland daily.
The town’s utilities staff and Manatee County utilities teams were initially focused on assessing the problem, limiting the impacts and making emergency repairs.
Town Manager Tom Harmer told commissioners in an email Tuesday that the affected area is hard to reach and the town’s emergency contractor had to cut a path through mangroves and make a road so heavy equipment could get to the site.
In addition, town staff worked with an environmental consultant to evaluate the extent and impacts associated with the spill and to help identify any further actions that may be necessary.
The Suncoast Waterkeeper reported the spill to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Longboat Key did not report the spill to FDEP.
Fines for sewage spills, including from public utility systems, will soon increase by 50%.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Tuesday at a Juno Beach ceremony with bill sponsors state Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, and Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, on the legislation designed to deter spills.
In addition to upping the fines, the statute specifies that each day the source of pollution knowingly goes unaddressed will constitute a new offense.
Gruters seemingly cited the spill in Longboat Key during the signing ceremony.
“Just a couple of weeks ago there was a million gallons of raw sewage that was spilled into Sarasota Bay,” Gruters said. “It’s long past the time to say enough is enough.”
At a town meeting on Tuesday, commissioners agreed to hire outside legal counsel to help with potential litigation. Commissioners did not comment on the issue, except to ask the town attorney about a potential closed meeting to discuss legal strategy.
Longboat Key’s only wastewater pipe is more than 40 years old and has been a concern of local environmentalists and the town for the last decade. Town staff originally expected the pipe would need to be replaced to eliminate the risk of a complete shutdown, which could necessitate using dump trucks to haul sewage off the island.
The effort was halted in 2016 after consultant Greely & Hansen determined that delaying replacing the pipe would be the most cost-effective approach. Replacing the four-mile pipe, half of which runs under the Sarasota Bay, would cost an estimated $20 million.
Greely & Hansen determined the pipe was in good condition and not in danger of failure because no leaks or severely corroded areas were found during the analysis.
Justin Bloom, the founder of the Suncoast Waterkeeper, toured Long Bar Pointe by boat Tuesday morning, the area most affected. Long Bar Pointe is the longest unbroken stretch of mangrove shoreline in Sarasota Bay. The Suncoast Waterkeeper has taken water samples and drone footage from the site.
In videos shared with the Herald-Tribune, clumps of what appears to be algae bob in the water near the mainland shore of the Sarasota Bay at Long Bar Pointe. This is where the sewage pipe goes underground through a proposed development by Carlos Beruff.
“It’s just really disappointing and we’ve just been working so hard to protect and improve the health of the bay,” Bloom said. “We feel we will have a significant blow to the habitat and water quality we have been trying to protect.”
Suncoast Waterkeeper has for years worked to improve area water quality and has filed multiple lawsuits against municipalities over dumping treated wastewater.
“We don’t want to lay blame on anybody,” said Bloom. “We hope to help the town and Manatee County to try to get the situation under control. Moving forward, we are going to look back to try to find out what happened.”
Information from the News Service of Florida was used in this report.