Nearly 800 gallons of raw sewage leaks into Sarasota County neighborhood

SARASOTA COUNTY — Nearly 800 gallons of raw sewage leaked into a neighborhood east of Interstate 75 on Thursday night, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said.

According to the FDEP, a "slug of grease" blocked a sewer pipe, causing 775 gallons of raw sewage to leak at about 7:45 p.m. onto the roadway in the 5000 block of Coco Plum Way and the 7000 block of Weeping Willow Drive.

The blockage was cleared and the affected areas were cleaned by Sarasota County workers.

The county is being sued by environmental groups after hundreds of millions of gallons of processed wastewater was discharged without a proper permit since 2013 from a storage pond at its Bee Ridge Wastewater Reclamation Facility on Lorraine Road.

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