Utilities Director Poonam Kalkat praised the quick work to fix and clean up the leak at the east end of Boynton Beach Boulevard. But the state is investigating the leak and could penalize the city. Tao Woolfe/The Coastal Star
By Tao Woolfe
The corrosive power of saltwater seeping into a junction box caused a sewer pipe spill last summer that dumped millions of gallons of sewage into the Intracoastal Waterway.
The incident has cost Boynton Beach about $1.6 million so far, and could cost much more, as the city investigates other potential infrastructure problems in a system whose oldest pipes date back to the 1970s and ’80s.
Those were the conclusions of Poonam Kalkat, utilities director for Boynton Beach, who delivered the report to city commissioners on Dec. 19.
Then on Dec. 21, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection sent a “warning letter” to the city, adding another potentially expensive layer to the repair process.
The letter states that due to a broken city meter, approximately 22 million gallons of untreated wastewater discharged “into the waters of the state affecting water quality,” and that the city could be liable for damages and restoration. The breach occurred July 3 and the leak was stopped July 6.
The warning is part of a DEP investigation and is preliminary to the department’s taking action in accordance with state statutes, the letter says.
Earlier, a department spokesman said the DEP was “pursuing formal enforcement in this matter, in the form of a consent order, which may include civil penalties.”
“The consent order will also include corrective actions and solutions to avoid future discharges, with timelines for completion.”
At the Dec. 19 City Commission meeting, Kalkat gave a dramatic accounting of how Boynton Beach utilities staff, as well as emergency contractors called in to help, spent days and nights at the spill site — at the far eastern end of Boynton Beach Boulevard.
Divers worked hours against unusually high tides to access a so-called conflict box designed by the Florida Department of Transportation. The box enabled an 84-inch DOT stormwater pipe to intersect with a city force main pipe bearing sewage from a lift station.
“Divers arrived on site to do repairs as this was considered the fastest way to stop the spill,” Kalkat said. “A team of divers attempted to repair the damaged pipe, using a repair clamp; however, after trying for over 10 hours the divers were unsuccessful as the back pressure in the pipe, and the tidal water, did not allow the repair clamp saddle to be tightened completely.”
While divers worked to repair the pipe, city staff contacted other municipalities asking for help and parts — scarce with the July 4 holiday approaching, Kalkat said.
The conflict box was filled up with water twice a day, Kalkat said. The brackish water running in and around the storm pipe corroded the pipe bearing wastewater and caused sewage to leach into the ICW.
City officials originally estimated that some 12 million gallons of wastewater emptied into the Intracoastal following the breach, a lesser estimate than that of the Florida DEP.
Kalkat said at the time that the 50-year-old clay piping that ran beneath Boynton Beach Boulevard was on the books to be replaced, but had not been.
To reduce back pressure, the emergency contractor’s crews decided to install a 20-inch line stop downstream of the break. The action alleviated pressure, which would theoretically allow the dive team to repair the leak during low tide, Kalkat said. But divers failed at that attempt, too.
City staff removed 38 truckloads of water and material. Meanwhile, the DEP and the state Health Department monitored the situation and sampled the water every day. Clean Harbors, a Boynton-based waste removal service, placed booms and turbidity barriers around the spill and removed another 37 drums of waste, Kalkat said.
“Over 900 linear feet of above-ground bypass hose, along with a 20-inch by 12-inch wet tap, was installed by the contractor, successfully stopping the spill,” Kalkat said.
Department of Health signs posted near entrances to Mangrove Park warned visitors to avoid contact with canal and lake water “due to high amounts of bacteria.” The city report said water was sampled until Aug. 10 at the point of entry, upstream and downstream of that point, at the city boat ramps to the north and the Woolbright Road bridge to the south.
Kalkat said she was pleased with how the city staff — and contractors — worked steadily until the repairs were made.
“I’m so proud of how our staff responded,” Kalkat told the commissioners. “It took two weeks to clean up completely.
“The city’s quick response prevented further damage.”
But Mayor Ty Penserga said the city had received many complaints from people who live near the spill. The city was slow to let residents know what was happening, and whether their water was safe to drink, he said.
Better communication and response times are needed, he said, because lack of communication sows distrust.
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