LTC 441-2022 City's Emergency Response to the Sanitary Sewer Force Main Break at Indian Creek Dr. and 69th St. on October 14, 2022MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
LTC#
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
441-2022 LETTER TO COMMISSION
Honorable Mayor Dan Gelber~, ~mbers of the City Commission
Alina T. Hudak, City ManagA}~ \'\
October 25, 2022 VJ' .
SUBJECT: City's Emergency Response to the Sanitary Sewer Force Main Break at
Indian Creek Dr. and 69th St. on October 14, 2022
The purpose of this L TC is to update the Commission on the Administration's emergency
response to the sanitary sewer force main break at Indian Creek Drive and 69th Street.
On October 14th, 2022 around 4 pm, the Public Works Department received a report of a
sanitary sewer force main break at the intersection of Indian Creek Drive and 69th Street.
The ruptured force main is a 16-inch cast iron pipe that serves sanitary sewer Pump
Station 19. This segment of pipe is believed to have been installed in the late 1930's.
Upon discovery of the break, Public Works staff worked diligently through Friday night to
isolate the pipe segment, stop the sewage flow and execute temporary repairs, as quickly
as possible.
Upon arrival of emergency tanker trucks, sewer Pump Station 19 was shut off and repair
work started around 9 pm. While the emergency contractor worked on replacing
approximately 10 feet of the 16-inch sewer pipe during the night and into Saturday
morning, a separate crew was also on site actively cleaning and disinfecting the impacted
area.
By approximately 7 am on Saturday, October 15th, Pump Station No. 19 and the repaired
16-inch pipe were put back into service. Road restoration followed promptly while the
ROW cleaning crew continued throughout Saturday. Cleaning (pressure washing) and
disinfection was performed on affected streets, sidewalks and stormwater catch basins
and pipes. At approximately 4:20 pm restoration was completed, MOT was removed, and
all impacted travel lanes were open.
The Administration issued a public notification for voluntary water reduction advisory and
precautionary swim advisory for all waterways in the vicinity of the spill via email, cellphone
texts alerts, NEXTDOOR and social media. The public was also notified via social media
and text messages on traffic control.
Daily sampling of adjacent waterways has been conducted by the Environment and
Sustainability Department commencing on Saturday, October 15, 2022. Reports to the
regulatory agencies, including the Florida Department of Environmental Protection
(FDEP) and the Miami-Dade County Department of Regulation and Economic Resources,
Division of Environmental Resource Management (DERM) began on Friday evening, and
continued during subsequent days. The sanitary sewage overflow total volume was
estimated at approximately 1.2 million gallons. The precautionary swim advisory remains
in effect. The City will continue to test the waterway until the readings are satisfactory at
which point the no contact with water advisory will be lifted.
The Administration has executed Emergency Purchase Authorizations (EPAs) both for the
temporary emergency ( completed on 10/15/2022) and the permanent replacement of
approximately 250 feet of the aged sewer force main. Staff is currently working on issuing
an ITQ through the Emergency and Routine Pool of Contractors (ITB-2021-012-WG) for
this permanent replacement.
On October 19, 2022, DERM placed Pump Station 19 under Temporary Moratorium. It is
important to note that DERM may withhold approval of new building permits while this
moratorium remains in place. Staff is in continued communications with DERM to
provide information as needed and to coordinate the emergency replacement of the
force main to expedite the lifting of said moratorium status.
CO~ETC/ATH