OVIEDO, Fla. – For anyone who didn’t know that 23,000 gallons of sewage spilled in Oviedo last week, they do now.
The mayor posted about the incident on Facebook and said the spill never should have happened in the first place because the city never should’ve started work on a nearly $1 million reclaimed water project.
News 6 met with Mayor Megan Sladek, who said on Tuesday she brought the spill to the public’s attention because she wanted people to hear it directly from city leaders.
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“I think it’s better for people to hear directly from the city,” Sladek said. “We just want to be transparent about it.”
Sladek also shared a document from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection which shows a contractor working to extend a reclaimed water line caused the leak on Oviedo Boulevard. It also shows that 23,578 gallons of sewage spilled, and 0 was recovered.
The project is one of more than 80 storm or sewer improvements the city is currently working on or planning to fix in the future. This spring, the council awarded a nearly $1 million construction bid for the reclaimed water extension that will connect to an existing pipe near the Oviedo Gym and Aquatic Facility.
Sladek voted against it. She posted on Facebook that the spill was “entirely avoidable.”
“At this point, there’s a policy decision made to extend reclaimed water to part of town that is slated to get apartments,” Sladek explained to News 6. “The vote happened. Here comes this giant reclaimed water pipe, and they hit a sewage line on the way.”
Sladek said the pipe to irrigate the medians and edges of the newly expanded S.R. 426 and S.R. 419 already has overgrown vegetation, so she doesn’t see the need to have irrigation added now. She also tells News 6 there is no definite plan to add any additional landscaping to the area.
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City staff told the council in April that the reclaimed water project is being done with plans for the future expansion of the downtown area in mind. They are also working on a reclaim loop in Oviedo. The line comes up Lockwood Boulevard, through Shane Kelly Park to S.R. 426, and down Foster’s Grove. The city is only about a mile away from completing the loop, which staff said would “provide service and reliability” to that portion of the city.
“With the widening that was just put in you have irrigation that was just installed 100 yards to the east of that Oviedo Boulevard/419 intersection, and irrigation runs almost to Oviedo High School,” staff said at the April meeting.
“But it’s not charged and yet it is all currently green,” Sladek replied. “What are we expecting? Why would we start watering it when it is already green?”
Councilmembers like Keith Britton, who voted in favor of the project, said it’s important for the Council to plan for the future regardless.
“It may not be the obvious benefit right now but in the future, it does provide the capability of the loop. You’re looking for resiliency, and we need it in a new downtown it’s going to be there,” Britton said. “So, we could pass on this, or we could not, but in the future, we’ll be doing this again and again and it will be more expensive.”
Deputy Mayor Natalie Teuchert agreed that the city may save money by acting now.
“Seeing the way prices go up, I don’t think we should push this one down the road either,” Teuchert said.
Sladek told News 6 at present the pipe adds zero new customers to the reclaimed water line and the construction is costing nearly $1 million. She advocated for impact fees to cover the cost of giving new service to near areas of town.