$12M consent order demands repairs after massive Brevard sewage spill

22 million gallons of raw sewage dumped into Indian River Lagoon after hurricane

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Millions of gallons of raw sewage spilling into the Indian River Lagoon after Hurricane Irma will cost Brevard County millions of dollars in mandated wastewater repairs.

Florida's Department of Environmental Protection issued a $12 million consent order demanding repairs within three years.

It included replacing 3 miles of beachside pipes and repairing seven sewage collection basins.

"We clearly have a problem in this county prioritizing lagoon repairs," said state representative Randy Fine (R-Palm Bay) who worked with DEP on the consent order. "This has strict timelines for when the work has to be finished and it's also going to require them to update the state every quarter on how they're doing." 

Brevard County is already in a 10-year, $130 million bond-funded plan to improve infrastructure.

That's a drop in the bucket to the $3 billion in wastewater upgrades the American Society of Civil Engineers says is needed.

County spokesman Don Walker said if commissioners vote to accept the consent order, it will mean reprioritizing money already coming in and work already being done.

Walker said some of the work listed in the consent order began this week and other projects were in progress up until the hurricane.

"We'll put some of those projects on a back burner and we'll move these projects up to the forefront. All this does is basically, set in stone what we've already told DEP that we're going to do," Walker said.

Fine said the county has an additional $20 million this year from both new legislation to clean the lagoon via the tourism tax and the 2016 lagoon sales tax.

Fine said it's unexpectedly bringing in an additional $10 million.

"It's my hope these demands that this money be spent, get the local politicians to start to focus on the right thing," Fine said.

Some critics blame recent spills on the lagoon's current brown tide algae scare. The county did not say when commissioners might vote on the DEP's consent order.


About the Author:

James joined News 6 in March 2016 as the Brevard County Reporter. His arrival was the realization of a three-year effort to return to the state where his career began. James is from Pittsburgh, PA and graduated from Penn State in 2009 with a degree in Broadcast Journalism.

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