275,000 gallons is enough to fill a junior Olympic size swimming pool.
Posted October 14, 2016 12:01 am
By SHELDON GARDNER sheldon.gardner@staugustine.com
QUITE A MESS: About 275,000 gallons spilled from sewers into waterways
About 275,000 gallons spilled from St. Augustine’s sanitary sewer system into rivers and creeks in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, while St. Johns County reported about 20,000 gallons worth of spills in its service area, according to estimates.
From Oct. 7 to Wednesday, the city had a dozen sanitary sewer overflows that spilled an estimated 331,106 gallons from the sewer system, with 56,138 gallons “contained and properly disposed,” according to the city. The rest went into surface waters.
“All spill sites have been cleaned, sanitized, and sampled for bacteria and pathogen elimination,” according to the city.
The spills went into the Matanzas River, the San Sebastian River, Quarry Creek and Hospital Creek, said Todd Grant, deputy director of St. Augustine’s public works department.
Two spills came after forcemain — sewer pipe — breaks, and 10 spills came after pump station power failures, Grant said.
No spills were active as of Thursday, Grant said.
Of the city’s 77 pump stations, which help take sewage to wastewater treatment plants, only two didn’t have power restored as of Thursday, Grant said. Backup equipment was being used at those sites.
The city reports spills to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and as of Thursday tests had come back below the state maximum for fecal coliform bacteria contamination, Grant said. That city will stop sampling now, he added.
In part to protect its water and sewer systems, St. Augustine shut off its water and sewer utility services on Anastasia Island, which was under an evacuation, but the mainland services stayed on despite an evacuation order for the entire city.
He said the city’s staff “worked endlessly” to help get the system back up and running and to address spills.
“I’m extremely proud of our staff,” Grant said.
St. Johns County utility officials also shut off the county’s water and sewer services to areas under mandatory evacuation on the barrier islands east of the Intracoastal Waterway.
The total of spills reported in the county’s service area is a fraction of the city’s.
Overall, the county estimates it had more than 20,000 gallons of sanitary sewer overflow from about two dozen spills, according to information sent by Tony Cubbedge, environmental division manager for St. Johns County.
The spills happened in areas including the St. Augustine Shores, St. Augustine Beach and Marsh Creek, according to a map of spills made by the county. The county notified the FDEP and homeowners associations, and put out warning signs where the spills went into water bodies, Cubbedge said.
The county has been sampling affected areas for fecal coliform bacteria, he said. Test results had not come back as of Thursday afternoon.
All of the county’s lift stations are running now, Cubbedge said.
Both Cubbedge and Bill Young, St. Johns County utility director, complimented the work of county employees and contractors.
“We worked to the wee hours of the morning just about every night,” Young said.
The spill totals reported in St. Johns County and St. Augustine are smaller than those reported in Jacksonville. According to the Florida Times-Union, the Jacksonville Electric Authority reported about 11 million gallons of sewage released over dozens of spills, though the amounts were unclear in some spills.
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