Oops we did it again

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF Environmental Protection Marjory Stoneman Douglas Building 3900 Commonwealth Boulevard Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3000

Ron DeSantis Governor Jeanette Nuñez Lt. Governor Noah Valenstein Secretary

---

Notice of Submission Pursuant to Section 403.077, F.S., the Department of Environmental Protection has received the following Public Notice of Pollution for a reportable release. All information displayed was submitted by the reporting party. Type of Notice: Initial Report Date of Notice: 08/15/2019 Incident Information Name of Incident: BR WRF Reuse 081519 State Watch Office Case Number: 4596 Start of Incident: 08/15/2019 10:30 Incident is on-going as of: 08/15/2019 16:01 Incident Description Earlier this morning, due to the continuous rains and flooding conditions in the area, the reclaimed water storage pond at the Bee Ridge Water Reclamation Facility began to overflow through the emergency spillway. Reclaimed water in the pond is water that has been fully treated, meets all public access reuse standards and is typically used for irrigation purposes. Staff has begun sampling at the pond and downstream to monitor the effects of the emergency discharge. Staff will continue to monitor the situation and make every effort to minimize the volume and duration of the event. We will monitor the water flowing from our reuse holding pond to Philippi Creek, and take samples Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until such time that the demand for reuse increases, and the spill ceases. Incident Location Facility/Installation Name: Bee Ridge WRF Address Line 1: Address Line 2: Directions: City: State: FL Zip Code: Coordinates (in decimal degrees): Lat: 27.301835838888838, Long: -82.39068863589023 Click to view Incident Location Impacted Counties: Sarasota Incident Reported By Name: David Hawkins Title: Chief Operator Phone: (941) 861-6790 E-mail Address: dhawkins@scgov.net On-Site Contact Name: Patricia Nihart Phone: (941) 861-6790 Ext: E-mail Address: pnihart@scgov.net To view a list of all received Public Notices of Pollution or to modify your e-mail subscription settings, please click the link below: Public Notice of Pollution Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Update: Pat Neal explains waste spill caused by his workers

"It's the environment, Stupid"

LTE that appeared in the Herald Tribune:

Help me to understand this:

Hundreds of thousands of gallons of raw sewage flow into our streams, rivers and the Gulf, and the best our state Senate representative Joe Gruters can do is propose slapping a fine on cash-strapped municipalities?

This, while his Republican-led Florida State Legislature focuses on ripping through the heartland with new highways, looking out for the interests of developers and once again denying the will of the people by short-changing funding—by hundreds of millions of dollars -- for the purchase and preservation of Florida lands as intended in Amendment One, approved by 75% of the voters in 2014.

There are only two ways to fix this. Either hope that the industry folks who lobby for municipal water treatment projects can outspend the highway construction and home development lobbyists and get the Governor and the Republican-led State Legislature to change their ways, or rally the voters to a cry of “It’s the environment, Stupid” to replace “It’s the economy, Stupid” and work harder than ever to throw the bums in Tallahassee out the door in the next election.   

Bob Clark
Venice, FL