FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Crews continue to work on containing and pumping out wastewater one day after another sewer main broke in Fort Lauderdale.
City officials said the break occurred in the parking lot area of George English Park, at 1101 Bayview Drive, at 7:30 a.m., Monday.
In the overnight hours of Tuesday, crews began digging two pits to prepare for the installation of a pipe saddle and two line stops.
7News cameras captured tankers continuing to pump out wastewater from Bayview Drive and the surrounding area.
Monday morning’s break is the eleventh pipe rupture the city has seen in two and a half months. Fort Lauderdale has dealt with eight sewage breaks and three water main breaks since December. More than 200 million gallons of raw sewage has poured into rivers and canals since the breaks began.
“The tourist industry is getting beat up,” fisherman Jeff Maggio said. “My charter business is getting beat up, and it just looks like the city is so far out of its league.”
The latest break is believed to be in a 14-inch sewer line that leads from a pumping station at the park to a main line located about 100 feet away. This break occurred in the same area where crews capped a break on a larger line in January.
The damaged line connects to a 42-inch main that runs through the park.
“They’re making a lot of progress today,” Fort Lauderdale City Manager Chris Lagerbloom said. “The pipe is there to build the bypass. We’re still pushing hard, so that we can go onto that bypass later tonight when the flow and the pressure starts to decrease as the day comes to an end, so once we get on bypass, we’re gonna do what we’ve committed to do with all of these breaks that have occurred, and that’s fix the entire length of the pipe and not just the area that’s broken.”
Residents in the area have been advised to avoid contact with any standing water.
“Certainly unacceptable, as a citizen and a taxpayer and a resident of this community that clearly someone has been in charge of that, and it hasn’t gone very well,” resident Shar Manglitz said.
Bayview Drive remains shut down in both directions from south of Northeast 11th Street to Sunrise Boulevard.
Drivers in the area can use Northeast 25th Avenue and 11th Street as alternate routes.
On Tuesday morning, city officials said the equipment needed for the installation of the pipe saddle, line stops and bypass pipe is expected to arrive later in the day.
In the meantime, crews will continue to remove groundwater from the pits to prepare for the installations and to prevent potential backups or another pipe break.
The city has already been fined nearly $2 million for the sewage spill, and they’re hoping state officials allow them to spend the money on cleanup efforts.
“Both water bodies are being addressed by professional, highly-regarded environmental contractors,” Lagerbloom said. “Anybody can write a check, and we can too if we need to, but it would really be great to put that back into the system itself.”
The precautionary advisory for water-related activities for the George English Lagoon, Middle River, and surrounding waterways remains in effect.
Officials hope to have the new bypass in place by midnight, Tuesday.
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