HAINES CITY, Fla. — In May, 1.1 million gallons of wastewater spilled out in Haines City, and at least 835,000 gallons ended up in Lake Eva, according to the director of public infrastructure of the city.
"Water came out of the manholes, into the storm system and discharged into Lake Eva," James Keene said.
The leak was reported on May 11, but on May 15, the overflow was rerouted and corrected. Then, nine days after the initial report, the leak was located and crews got to work.
Officials in Haines City took more than a week to find the leak because the eroded pipes weren't included in any city plans.
"We didn't know where it was installed, the system is from 1927 so at some point, there was a conflict box there caused an issue," Keene said.
A conflict box is used when two pipes run into each other, so each can continue flowing in its needed direction without content mixing. When the conflict box was installed in Haines City, Keene said the city had no record of it, delaying their search for the leak.
"It eventually eroded away the bottom of that cast iron pipe, causing the compromise," he said.
It cost the city $271,000 to clean up, locate and fix the spill. That's not all, however, because the city is also facing fines from the Department of Environmental Protection.
"DEP has already put a fine on this," Keene said. "It's for $75,000 for the discharge for this particular one. We have elected, and DEP is already aware, that we were going to do an in-kind [project]."
According to DEP, "an in-kind project must be either an environmental enhancement, environmental restoration or a capital/facility improvement project and may not be a corrective action requirement of the order or otherwise required by law."
Keene said the city has not yet sent its project plans for DEP's approval, but the process is relatively simple and quick.
"DEP has been engaged in ongoing enforcement with Haines City for several years regarding the chronic wastewater discharges by its wastewater treatment plant," the DEP said in a statement. "DEP first executed a consent order with the city in Aug. 2018 and has since issued subsequent amendments."
The city says the bacteria in Lake Eva is back to safe levels. Their biggest takeaway in this million-gallon spill wasn't the response, it was the communication.
"The lesson for myself and my team, if this were to occur again, it'd be knocking on every door and every business who touches this water body," Keene said.
The city did not make any social media posts about the wastewater spill to alert residents or people who may use the public boat ramp.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly attributed a quote to Haines City instead of the DEP. It has since been corrected.