Fort Lauderdale’s choice after sewage spills: $2.1 million fine or $3.1 million project
This spring, Florida’s largest sewage spill was met with Florida’s largest fine. And now, both have gone up.
From December to February, Fort Lauderdale has spilled more than 230 million gallons of sewage into rivers and waterways, thanks to a crumbling system of pipes and pumps that have been mismanaged for decades and are unprepared for the increasing effects of sea level rise.
On Friday, Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection upped its fine for Fort Lauderdale from $1.8 million to $2.1 million to account for an additional 20-million-gallon spill in late February. It was — and remains — the biggest fine for a sewage spill in Florida history.
But the city has another option. Instead of paying the $2.1 million fine, which would go to the state’s trust fund, the DEP’s updated consent decree said Fort Lauderdale could choose to pay for a $3.1 million environmental restoration project.
“That would be up to the city to elect to do that,” said DEP Secretary Noah Valenstein. “Usually a municipality would prefer to see dollars stay in their community rather than come to the state trust fund.”
If the city chose environmental restoration, known as an in-kind penalty project, that money would go toward solutions like replanting mangroves or restoring seagrass, not repairing broken-down pipes or pumps. But it would come at the expense of a practice Fort Lauderdale has drawn steep criticism for, raiding its utility repair fund to cover other city costs.
The Sun Sentinel reported in December that the city has used more than $130 million it collected for water and sewer repairs on other expenses like police, parks and staff salaries since 2012. Fort Lauderdale began phasing out the practice in 2018 and voted to officially end it in March under pressure from residents.
If the city chooses the restoration project over a fine, it must prove to the state annually that it leaves that cash where it belongs. Although Fort Lauderdale has since halted the practice, Valenstein said “plenty” of other cities in the state still do it.
“We believe that this was a process that has to stop in the state of Florida,” he said. “This is a wake-up call for a lot of folks throughout Florida. As an agency, we will be treating any municipality the same moving forward.”
Fort Lauderdale did not indicate which option it would be pursuing, but in a statement, City Manager Chris Lagerbloom said the city is committed to “improving, upgrading and strengthening” its infrastructure.
“We thank the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for their guidance in this matter. We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with them as we implement projects and initiatives to advance our commitment to protect, preserve, and enhance the environment now and for future generations,” he said.
He added that Fort Lauderdale is 30 percent done with installing a new 7.5 mile wastewater transmission line and is about to launch a $200 million stormwater improvement project.
The updated agreement also comes with a handful of new requirements for Fort Lauderdale, including installing a temporary generator at the G.T. Lohmeyer wastewater treatment plant within six months and a permanent generator within two years.
Missed deadlines will now cost the city $1,000 a day instead of $100, and spill fines can now reach up to $15,000 instead of $10,000.
The city must also submit a rapid response plan to the state within the next 10 months and an environmental review of the damage done to George English Lake and the Tarpon River within the next two months.
The sewage spills killed fish and other marine wildlife, but scientists worried the pollution could spread to the coral reefs offshore.
The city hired two environmental services companies, E-Sciences and Wood Environmental and Infrastructure Solutions, earlier this year to assess the damage in those same areas and come up with a restoration plan.
Paul Chettle, a Fort Lauderdale resident and advocate of repairing the sewage system, called the updated consent decree from the state “welcome news.”
“Hopefully the new Commission is more responsible in deciding on the hierarchy of needs. Critical Infrastructure is called critical for a reason,” he said.
Whether Fort Lauderdale opts for the fine or the project, the estimated cost of repairing the entire dilapidated system is at least ten times that. A 2017 consultant report pegged the cost of replacing the city’s wastewater and freshwater infrastructure at $1.8 billion over the next 20 years.
Jeff Maggio, a captain who has taken hundreds of clients fishing for tarpon and snook around Fort Lauderdale, says enforcement of environmental regulation by government agencies takes too long and isn’t bold enough.
“The big breaks and spills we saw last year and early this year may have been fixed, but smaller leaks are happening all the time. Anyone with half a nose can smell it along the intercoastal.”
Maggio, who organized rallies earlier this year to push for more investment in sewage infrastructure, said community engagement has fizzled during the COVID-19 crisis.
And there have been fewer leaks over the past three months. With no tourists visiting the area and businesses down to a minimum, the system got a break which lessened pressure on the city’s aging infrastructure. But as the economy slowly reopens and with major fixes still far from being completed, Fort Lauderdale may be in for another stinky fall and winter seasons.
“I’ll bet that things will get bad around the time of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, when thousands of people are planning to come to the city,” he said. The show, one of the world’s largest, is scheduled for Oct. 28- Nov. 1, he said.
This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 3:27 PM.
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