Miami Beach Sewer Break Fixed; 71st Street Reopens
MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) - The street saturated with gallons of smelly sewage earlier this week is now open to traffic.
Miami Beach spokesperson Nanette Rodriguez confirmed to CBS4 that the intersection of 71st Street and Harding Avenue was repaved and reopened late Friday.
The stubborn main sewer line proved to be quite a challenge for city workers.
After a day of repair work city workers thought their temporary repair would hold until a joint in the spliced pipe sprung another leak Thursday morning, and it was back to square one.
The pipe, which typically carries about four million gallons of raw sewage a day to a waste treatment plant, was shut down again and the waste water was bubbling out of it into storm drains.
Crews drained an excavation hole in the intersection to re-access the pipe to re-address the problem. That fix appears to have worked.
Wednesday morning a 10 foot section of the 24 inch pipe ruptured at the intersection of 71st Street and Harding Avenue; it damaged the road and sent flood like rivers of waste water down nearby roads.
"The street blew up like a balloon and then an edge of it popped up like six feet," said John Wiesniewski. "It looked Niagra Falls in reverse."
On Miami Beach, some residents who live near the spill were angry to think of what they might have walked through.
"I think it's a shame that the city cannot take care of this," said Eduardo Tartarini. "They are not doing a good job"
Residents and visitors were being asked to minimize flow of waste water by pouring stuff down the drain and flushing toilets as little as possible in an area north of the break including Bal Harbour, North Bay Village, Bay Harbour Islands, Surfside and northern areas of Miami Beach. Those cities had been able to turn off their pumps.
City officials have said they don't believe the break is a sign of a major problem. They said the city has spent millions over the years on improvements to the water and sewage systems.
Recognizing the need to replace crumbling infrastructure, North Bay Village is using federal stimulus money to build its own, state of the art sewer main to the mainland.
"We have to," said North Bay Village Public Works director Samuel Zamacona, Jr. "It is either look forward or sink into a sewage-filled Biscayne Bay."
Zamacona said cities, states and counties must be more "pro-active" in replacing and repairing aging, decaying infrastructure of all sorts.
This break did not affect drinking water usage; just the disposal of it. Water is safe to drink.
Although the break is capped, the Miami-Dade Health Department and Environmental Resources Management continue to monitor water quality.
A precautionary swimming advisory is still in effect for eastern Biscayne Bay from 88 to 57 streets.
