Biscayne Bay

A crack in a half-century old iron sewer pipe has grown and could keep leaking for up to three weeks while workers struggle to fix it, Miami-Dade County Water and Sewer Director Kevin Lynskey said Friday.

It’s been a tough summer for South Florida beaches, which have faced hot weather, seaweed and high bacteria levels.

Over the weekend, a crack surfaced in a 55-year-old underground sewer pipe in Miami's Oleta River.

The small crack is less than two square inches in diameter and has so far spewed about a half million gallons of raw sewage. But the flow will continue as workers race to install a bypass pipe on the aging line - work they expect to complete by Thursday night.

While less severe than originally suspected when a kayacker discovered the leak Sunday, the spill is drawing attention to a worsening problem across Miami-Dade County: polluted waterways.

A grand jury convened by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office has sounded a dire warning about the state of Biscayne Bay, which it calls the “crown jewel of our environment.” The group warned local officials that immediate action should be taken to save it, and included a variety of recommendations.

A new study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration looking at 20 years worth of data on pollution has found a new risk threatening Biscayne Bay: "regime change."

A pair of Miami architects who infuriated neighbors and drew the scrutiny of county environmental regulators when they chopped down mangroves at their waterfront property in the wake of Hurricane Irma have sold the lot for more than double what they paid.

Many people tend to think of Miami as a car dominant, traffic heavy metropolis. Yet, the city is becoming more pedestrian friendly. An ongoing project by real estate group The Related Group and Miami’s Downtown Development Authority seeks to make Miami a top destination for walking, living and vacation.

Similar to The Highline in New York City, a new project called The Biscayne Line would be a 15-mile long public walkway that stretches from Downtown Brickell to the Design District.

Roughly 1,500 dancers across the United States and Puerto Rico performed simultaneously on Saturday to  advocate for the protection and preservation of water during the third National Water Dance. 

The event was started by former New World School dance instructor Dale Andree. She wanted to expand performative possibilities for dancers and found that site-specific performances created an opportunity to make a statement.

For most of us, culverts -- the pipes that help water flow under roads and hills --  aren't particularly exciting news.

But the South Florida Water Management District is celebrating a Dec. 14 decision by its governing board to speed up building four new culverts that are part of a project to restore coastal areas along Biscayne Bay.

Biscayne Bay used to be a subtropical paradise with clear water and colorful coral. But urbanization and population growth have polluted the water and imperiled fish, birds, manatees and plants, particularly seagrass.  

Biscayne Bay is in trouble. Biologists say about 21 square miles of its seagrass have died off in the past decade.