Heavy rainfall from the tropical disturbance that drenched South Florida this weekend has overwhelmed Miami-Dade County’s sewage treatment system, causing overflows that prompted officials to close at least one beach and issue a no-swim advisory for parts of the coast.
The county’s water and sewer department is advising people not to swim in the water between Bill Baggs State Park on Key Biscayne and the Venetian Causeway to the north, from the mainland to the beaches to the east. This includes a swath of South Beach and coastal waters between the southern tip of Key Biscayne to the Venetian Islands. The advisory also asks the public to avoid fishing and boating in these waters.
As a result, the city of Miami has closed Virginia Key Beach until further notice.
“It was just simply too much water,” said Jennifer L. Messemer, spokesperson for Miami-Dade Water and Sewer, in an interview.
The department’s wastewater treatment plant on Virginia Key is can handle an average daily flow of 143 million gallons of sewage. Saturday afternoon, the facility was reporting more than 310 million gallons of wastewater and rainwater that infiltrated the system during the stormy weather.
The impacts of the more than 11 inches of precipitation experienced during this severe weather event have led to a wastewater overflow at the facility,” reads a statement from the county.
Officials said wastewater is overflowing on the ground at the treatment plant, but it could mix with flood waters and flow into Biscayne Bay.
“We are working hard to monitor our water quality and ensure the public’s safety, as we mitigate issues related to the extremely heavy rainfall received during this severe weather event,” said Roy Coley, Miami-Dade’s water and sewer director.
The problem could be seen further inland at several locations in central Miami-Dade, where wastewater was flowing up into the street, popping off manhole covers at U.S. 1 and Southwest 17th Avenue, 6464 NE Fourth Ct., and the corner of Northwest Seventh Street and 10th Avenue.
Officials also asked residents not to open up manholes in order to drain their streets because adding more floodwater into the sewage system will worsen the problem. The county has also asked residents to decrease water consumption as much as possible because the system is still overwhelmed.
Florida Department of Health and environmental regulators will be sampling the affected water. After two days of clear tests, the no-swim advisory will be lifted.