An estimated 450,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled for more than three days from a LaBelle wastewater pipe into a Hendry County creek that flows into the Caloosahatchee just upstream of Lee County, according to state records.
None of it was recovered.
The spill was about 2 1/2 times the size of the roughly 183,000-gallon sewage release into Fort Myers’ Manuel’s Branch in 2020, the largest in the city’s recorded history.
According to a Florida Department of Environmental Protection pollution report, the spill began at the city’s wastewater treatment plant No. 1 on Citrus Street at midnight July 7 and wasn’t stopped until 4 p.m. July 10. The notice was issued the following morning.
‘Hard to believe that someone wasn’t around to detect it’
Calusa Waterkeeper emeritus John Cassani wonders why it took so long to find and stop the flow.
“For a spill of that volume, it would have been flowing for quite some time,” he said. “Hard to believe that someone wasn’t around to detect it before it sent all that untreated sewage into the neighborhood or ultimately into the (Caloosahatchee) river.”
When the News-Press visited the Citrus Street treatment plant July 11, Plant Operator Robert Archer blamed aging infrastructure for the release.
A 4-inch force main break sent the sewage into the creek that runs along the west side of the facility. Once the break was discovered, clean-up started.
“We’ve been disinfecting with lime, and we put in some containment walls where the break was and we notified DEP, and did all the proper reporting,” said Archer, who works for Woodard & Curran, the company that runs the city’s plants.
According to the DEP, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, sampling will be done upstream and downstream. Calusa Waterkeeper volunteer rangers will monitor the water as well, said board member Jason Pim.
Archer’s not sure where the sewage wound up.
“I know it entered the creek back there (but) where actually it made it to, I’m not sure,” he said.
Brought to you by raw sewage: algae, fish kills, pharmaceuticals
“Large and lingering sewage spills can have human health implications such as increased risk of infections and disease,” Cassani said. “The impacts to aquatic ecosystems can also be severe.”
The spills reduce oxygen levels and cloud water, which can “inhibit animal respiration and sometimes lead to fish kills,” he said. “Also, untreated sewage has very high concentrations of nutrients that can trigger an algae bloom. Another thing many folks probably don’t think about are the pharmaceuticals in untreated sewage that are known to cause a myriad of problems with animal reproduction and depressed immune systems.”
Where did the raw sewage flow?
On its way to the river, the creek passes under Live Oak Lane, a quiet, upscale neighborhood shaded by the namesake trees with nearby houses fronting the river. There, the smell of raw sewage hung heavy in the air. A landscaper string-trimming along the creek the afternoon of July 11 said his crew noticed the stench immediately, as well as discolored creek water.
Cassani says a “huge” spill like that “could have easily gone into the river,” which is less than a mile from the plant.
Archer referred further questions to the city of LaBelle. City officials did not immediately respond to phone and email messages seeking comment.
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