MADEIRA BEACH - Several spills this month have sent 350,000 gallons of raw sewage into the Intracoastal Waterway and pushed bacteria counts too high for swimming or fishing.
Pinellas County utilities officials will meet today with the Department of Environmental Protection to analyze the county's handling of sewage spills and determine whether they can do more to prevent them.
"I think five breaks in eight days is totally unacceptable," said Pick Talley, county utilities director.
Bacteria levels will be measured again this afternoon, and the ban on swimming and fishing in the intracoastal waters of Madeira Beach could be lifted.
Florida averages 120 sewage spills a year, according to the state Department of Health.
A spill Tuesday near the Tom Stuart Causeway in Madeira Beach was the most recent and most severe of the five leaks. It sent about 190,000 gallons of untreated sewage - enough to fill 32 tanker trucks - into the channel.
Still, scientists say the sewage is more a short-term health hazard than something that could cause long-term environmental damage. Much of the bacteria is killed when it hits the saltwater.
"The bacteria will spike; then they'll go away," said Peter Fadale, who maintains the Health Department's sewage spill database. "Dilution is the solution for pollution."
Talley said he does not believe the county's aging sewer lines are at fault, instead attributing most of the spills to errors committed by contractors. He also said he is not sure what can be done to improve the response to the spills.
The spills began 10 days ago:
The first occurred July 7 at the old McKay Wastewater Treatment Plant on 118th Avenue N that the county is now demolishing. The contractors hit a line they did not know of and broke it. As crews were finishing repairs to that pipe, another broke at the plant. That break was likely caused by pressure placed on the system during repairs of the first, Talley said.
Together, those spills dumped about 150,000 gallons of untreated sewage into the Intracoastal.
A third spill occurred days later during installation of reclaimed water lines on Oakhurst Road. The contractor hit a reclaimed water line it had just finished installing. The sewage from that mishap did not flow into the Intracoastal Waterway.
On Friday, a minor spill of 4,000 gallons occurred as work crews tried to remove a valve on a 20-inch sewer force main, an iron pipe that transports sewage to the South Cross Bayou water reclamation facility on 54th Avenue N.
The largest and most recent spill occurred Tuesday at the same spot. It occurred as workers were wrapping up their removal of the faulty valve.
To remove the valve, workers first dug below sea level near the Tom Stuart Causeway to reach the valve. They installed temporary "line stops" on either side of the faulty valve, then built a bypass sewer line around the valve.
The crew then cut out the valve and placed "caps" on the open ends of the sewer lines left behind. When the temporary line stops were removed, one of the caps blew off under the pressure of the sewer line.
"Preliminary indications are (the cap) was not installed properly by the contractor," said Norm Roche, county utilities spokesman.
The Utilities Department collected water samples Tuesday from various points along the Intracoastal Waterway and John's Pass, but only one - in the immediate vicinity of the spill - contained bacteria levels too high for recreational uses. Roche said the department decided to extend the swimming, fishing and wading ban for one more day while new samples collected Wednesday are analyzed.
The ban on recreational uses applies only to the Intracoastal Waterway in Madeira Beach. The waterway is probably not affected in other beach communities, and swimming at the beach is safe, Roche said.
