(Failing) Infrastructure Week In South Florida: Residents Face "Sewage Spill Whack-A-Mole"
MIAMI (CBSMiami) — It seems you cannot go a week without hearing about a sewer and water main breaks. The most recent ones catching the headlines are happening in Fort Lauderdale. It started there in December. Pipes erupting in neighborhoods in affluent neighborhoods creating rivers of sewage. Homeowners were not amused. Fort Lauderdale joins a long list of sewer breaks plaguing the South Florida community.
Much of the reason for all of this can be tied to a sewer system that pre-dates when John F. Kennedy was President.
In 1961, less than a million people lived here. Today, nearly three million people are flushing toilets every day and with each flush, there is the potential for a huge mess. In 2019, a kayaker discovered a huge leak in Biscayne Bay. They were on the Oleta River near Aventura, when they noticed massive sewage covering the area. More than million gallons would spew into Biscayne Bay before Miami-Dade County could shut it down.
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Years ago, politicians opted to keep utility bills low. That meant the funds needed for replacements and upgrades for an aging infrastructure did not happen. The fallout led to sewage in the streets. “It got to the point where the federal government had to step in and say ‘Miami-Dade County this is unacceptable and you need to do something to change it,’ Cox explained.
in 2013, a federal judge ordered Miami-Dade to upgrade the system, a monumental task. “I will tell you it gave me pause when I looked at the giant capital program. There had not been anything like it in the county. It was just massive,” Kevin Lynskey, the director of Miami-Dade Water and Sewer told CBS4.
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https://miami.cbslocal.com/2020/02/10/south-florida-sewage-spill-whack-a-mole-is-there-a-solution/
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