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Finally, We Know How Much Sewage Spilled In Fort Lauderdale: 126.9 Million Gallons

Susan Stocker
/
South Florida Sun Sentinel
A pair of sewage main breaks have been contained in Rio Vista. In the overnight hours, crews were able to activate a bypass line and sewage flow is no longer spilling into the neighborhood nor the Tarpon River.

The staggering number of sewer main breaks that hit Fort Lauderdale in December turned into one of South Florida’s biggest sewage spills ever: 126.9 million gallons.

That’s a mind-numbing amount of human waste, enough to fill 192 Olympic-sized pools. Some of it wound up in streets, parks and lawns, but the bulk of it wound up in the Tarpon River, where it was pumped to keep sewage from seeping into homes.

The total tally of gallons spilled was made public for the first time Monday, during a meeting of the city’s infrastructure task force. It’s now the biggest spill on record in Broward County — a whopping 75 million gallons more than the runner-up spill that fouled the waterways of Pompano Beach a year ago.

Read more at the Sun Sentinel.

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