Yes, yet another million gallon raw sewage event has occurred, this time in Panama City where a construction company accidently broke an aging sewage collection line. However, no comments of “these thing happen” were heard from the City of Panama City.
Nearly a million gallons of raw sewage flood the Cove | mypanhandle.com
“Unfortunately, any sewage spills largely have a negative effect on our environment and our public health,” St. Andrew and St. Joseph Bay Estuary Program Executive Director Jessica Graham said. “These spills allow generally a large amount of bacteria and pathogens to enter the water,” Graham said. “Sometimes even heavy metals, pharmaceutical projects or products and even things that can affect hormone production and fish and wildlife.” Just what the Tallahassee Sewage and Wakulla Basin Advocacy Group (Advocacy Group) has been saying for years as millions of gallons of raw sewage spills have occurred, many, flowing into local Class III water bodies.
Per the MyPanhandle.com article, “The Department of Environmental Protection has issued a swim warning for the bayou. They’re also testing the water quality.”
This is much different than sewage spills which have flowed into our own Lakes Munson, Jackson, and, only a few weeks ago, Lafayette where the City of Tallahassee stopped sampling and analyzing at the Weems Pond Outfall leading to Lake Lafayette.
However, more thorough sampling and analyzing got an boost recently at the monthly meeting of Leon County’s Science Advisory Committee (SAC) as the City of Tallahassee’s, David Roberts, Assistant General Manager of the Underground Utilities Department, was summarizing its own recent one-million gallon raw sewage event. Specifically, former SAC Chairman, Bill Landing, was heard saying, “One more day of sampling would have been great!”. Additionally, Mr. Landing expressed concerns about the “resident time” of raw sewage remaining in Weems Pond and was “still relevant”. That is, concerns exist of raw sewage still lying at the bottom of Weems Pond with concerns of flowing, eventually, to Lake Lafyette.
Also, the City disclosed they destroyed a large beaver dam, thereby, releasing approximately ten million gallons from Goose Pond during its Capital Circle NE million gallon sewage event into the Northside Stormwater Ditch, thus, causing eColi readings to increase in Weems Pond. Reaction by SAC members was immediate, asking why wasn’t more sampling conducted along this ditch as eColi levels increased. Johnny Richardson, Leon County’s water quality administrator, indicated the County does not destroy beaver dams. Additional comments can be found from the SAC meeting video for fifteen (15) minutes starting at the one-hour mark: S.A.C. November 3rd, 2023 - Teams Virtual Meeting-20231103_083240-Meeting Recording
So, concerns on the lack of water quality sampling and analyzing continue increasing for the City of Tallahassee’s staff to do so.
Time will tell whether the City will take SAC’s and the Advocacy Group’s recommendation for more sampling and analyses of sewage flowing into our Class III recreational waters.
As always, you are invited to join the Tallahassee Sewage and Wakulla Basin Advocacy Group’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/412536726345011 plus, sign our Restore Lake Munson Petition: https://www.change.org/RestoreLakeMunsonas it approaches 1,000 signatures! Who will be #1,000?
Thanks for all your comments and support. Please feel free to Forward this correspondence to others.
Terry
J. Terry Ryan- Co-Founder of Tallahassee Sewage and Wakulla Basin Advocacy Group