More than 1 million gallons of sewage diverted into Brevard County pond, canal

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — More than 1 million gallons of raw sewage was diverted to a pond and a canal that leads to the Banana River, Channel 9 learned Tuesday.
 
The sewage was diverted a week ago, but Brevard County officials are warning residents to stay away from the contaminated water in Sea Park Pond and the Anchor Drive Canal.
 
County officials said they were left with two options when a 20-year-old sewage pipe failed near the borders of Satellite and Indian Harbour beaches.
 
"That was to either let it back up into the thousands of homes beachside or put (it) in the canal," county spokesperson Don Walker said.
 
Sea Park Pond captured about 300,000 gallons of wastewater, as it was designed to do, but the rest went into the canal.
 
"The canals go everywhere (and) they are behind the houses, so that's not a great plan either," resident Jenna Smith said.
 
The incident was the third involving untreated or partially treated wastewater this year. In February, there were two discharges of partially treated wastewater. The county entered into a consent order the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and was fined $4,100 for the discharges.
 
"Like any county, or municipality, we have an aging infrastructure. We do have money in place to do repairs and maintenance as we can," Walker said.
 
Resident Bob French said the community was trying to clean up the river and the sewage set it a long way back.
 
The county is trying to avoid future incidents by spending $134 million on a 10-year water-waste improvement program. About half is currently funded through bonds and a low-interest loan and some of the projects are already underway.

For more information about this story, contact Melonie Holt.

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