HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Erika Bailey was among the residents in Broward County who feared wastewater could put their health at risk on Friday.
City crews were working late Friday to suction the water into tanker trucks. The water that leaked was partially treated, but still potentially hazardous.
Bailey said the wastewater release happened after rain caused flooding in her neighborhood on Wednesday and Thursday.
“This is just insane,” Bailey said.“We just did a flood, two days ago, and we’re doing a flood again ... It’s not going anywhere because the ground is saturated.”
Joann Hussey, a spokesperson for the city of Hollywood where Bailey lives, said a pipe burst on Friday at a treatment plant.
“As we started to cap the pipe, the holding container started to overflow and so it overflowed into the facility into the plant property itself,” Hussey said.
Millions of gallons also spewed into nearby waterways and neighborhoods off of Taft and 14th Avenue, south of Sheridan.
“I was calling, like in a panic, the city nobody wants to answer. They only work Monday through Thursday,” Bailey said.
Hussey said they were asking residents to reduce their water use and stay away from the wastewater.
After the 48-inch pipe at The Southern Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, at 1621 N. 14th Ave., failed, wastewater also discharged into the Echo Golf Course, 1451 Taft St., and West Lake.
The city notified the Florida State Warning Point and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, according to the Department of Public Utilities in Broward County.