Finally, we know how much sewage spilled in Fort Lauderdale: 126.9 million gallons

Jan 9, 2020

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-ne-sewage-spilled-fort-lauderdale-20200106-xr3qkewzlvadnipnxyiogpukhi-story.html

The staggering number of sewer main breaks that hit Fort Lauderdale in December turned into one of South Florida’s biggest sewage spills ever: 126.9 million gallons.

That’s a mind-numbing amount of human waste, enough to fill 192 Olympic-sized pools. Some of it wound up in streets, parks and lawns, but the bulk of it wound up in the Tarpon River, where it was pumped to keep sewage from seeping into homes.

The total tally of gallons spilled was made public for the first time Monday, during a meeting of the city’s infrastructure task force. It’s now the biggest spill on record in Broward County — a whopping 75 million gallons more than the runner-up spill that fouled the waterways of Pompano Beach a year ago.

The sewer main breaks that hit Fort Lauderdale spewed an estimated 126.9 million gallons of waste, according to city officials. That's enough to flood a football field nearly 300 feet deep in sewage. (Aric Chokey/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

“It’s an alarming number,” said Marilyn Mammano, a retired city planner who heads the task force. “There’s no way to get around that. But it could have been much higher had the staff not responded so quickly. But no number is a good number.”