LTC 360-2025 Update on the Implementation of Operation Clean Water Program -#6MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
LTC #360-2025
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT:
LETTER TO COMMISSION
Honorable Mayor Steven Meiner and Members of the City Commission
Eric Carpenter, City Manager � �
September 4, 2025
UPDATE ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF "OPERATION CLEAN WATER"
PROGRAM-#6
The purpose of this Letter to Commission (L TC) is to provide the Mayor and City Commission an
update on "Operation Clean Water," adopted on March 19, 2025, by Resolution No. 2025-33559.
At the July 10, 2025 meeting of the Land Use and Sustainability Committee, City staff provided an
update of the item "Discuss the North Beach Water Quality and Park View Canal Report." At the
conclusion of the discussion, a motion was made, directing the Administration to provide weekly
updates of its efforts at the Park View Canal, with a focus on Biscayne Beach Elementary hotspots
and associated lateral pipe-lining, above-ground cleanliness (alleyways, street sweeping, pressure
washing), and homeless outreach.
Biscayne Beach Elementary
The pipe-lining contractor Vortex Infrastructure Services, LLC, began work on the Biscayne Beach
Elementary school grounds on the morning of August 8, 2025. They began cleaning lateral lines
and performing a closed-circuit television (CCTV) video inspection of the lines through existing
pipe-access points. Lateral line cleaning involves the removal of debris, tuberculation, and rust
from the pipes to better assist with video inspections, point repairs, and the subsequent pipe lining.
Vortex's updated scope of work also includes performing at least four (4) point repairs, replacing
existing deteriorated cleanouts, and installing additional cleanouts as needed in order to have
proper access points for lining of at least eleven (11) locations. Additional cleanouts will be
installed as new lateral lines are discovered. Vortex shifted its lateral line work activities to occur
at night on August 14, 2025 to eliminate any conflicts with the school's daytime activities.
Since work began, the City has been actively communicating and coordinating with the School
Board of Miami-Dade County and Biscayne Beach Elementary's representatives regarding the
project's progress, challenges, and anticipated completion schedule. Recurring weekly team
meetings have been scheduled to provide updates on work completed to date, discuss any newly
discovered lateral lines, and to coordinate additional scope of work to be completed. The largely
inaccurate as-built plans that were provided to the team (which did not have the proper location of
the school's lateral lines,) has prolonged the initial CCTV exploration, clean, point repair phase of
the work. This has ultimately contributed to a delay in the project's completion. The CCTV
exploration, cleaning, point repair and clean-out installation phase of the work is anticipated to be
completed by August 31, 2025, with the lining of the lateral pipes expected to occur on August 29
and 30, 2025, and again for the next three consecutive weekends. Due to the distinctive off
gassing associated with newly lined pipes, the lateral pipes will only be lined on weekends when
no one is on campus to allow enough time for the lining to fully cure and the odor to dissipate
properly without disrupting classes.
Work completed to date includes 1,190 LF of pipe cleaned,173 LF of pipe lined,11 cleanouts
installed and/or replaced,and 4 point repairs performed.Additionally,123 LF of pipe will be
replaced just outside of the former science rooms,and at the school's request,cleanout 1B (CO1 B)
in their courtyard will be plugged off.
The attached updated maps,'EXHIBIT -A'provides a graphical update on the scope of work
completed to date,and what is anticipated to be completed in the following weeks.
In addition to the CCTV inspection,point repairs,and lateral pipe-lining efforts on the Biscayne
Beach Elementary property,over the last several years the City has performed extensive sanitary
sewer assessments and rehabilitation activities on Park View Island and the Park View Extended
area,see attached 'EXHIBIT -B'for additional details.
Ultraviolet Sanitization Pilot Project
The formal agreement between the City of Miami Beach and the University of Miami (UM)for the
Ultraviolet Sanitization Pilot Project for street cleaning has been reviewed and executed by the
City Manager's Office,and the University of Miami as of August 26,2025.The purchase order
was issued on August 28,2025,and an onsite preparation meeting is scheduled to be held on
September 5,2025.
One of the primary recommendations of the report was to focus on "cleaning"street surfaces,as
best as possible,to reduce levels of enterococci entering the stormwater system.
Recommendations include increasing the frequency of street sweeping,augmenting street
sweeping by removing visible debris and fecal deposits manually,and the possible use of ultra-
violet (UV)light to disinfect street surfaces.UV light is a known disinfection technology which is
environmentally friendly,in that it does not impart a chemical residual.
The scope of the pilot project includes 73 Street,which was documented as a "hot spot."This
location was also chosen because it is a uniform,two-lane street with a median which can facilitate
experimental and traffic logistics,and it is an area where both University of Miami studies
demonstrated elevated levels of enterococci.The street can be partitioned into three segments to
evaluate six conditions (one set of three for streets,and another set of three for sidewalks),and
the conditions to be tested are:no cleaning,sweeping (industrial for streets and manual for
sidewalks),and sweeping plus UV.These conditions are proposed to be tested three times,once
at each segment,to assess whether the UV treated segments show a significant improvement
over non-UV treated segments.
Stormwater Management {No Update)
The Miami-Dade County Environmental Resources Management (DERM),which has approved
the responses submitted to their last Request For Information (RFI),issued the Class II permit for
the seven Downstream Defender hydrodynamic separator/water quality structures on Friday
August 1,2025,allowing the City to move forward with the final design and the procurement
process.Construction is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2026.
Routine maintenance efforts remain ongoing.Stormwater structures from 72°to 77 Streets,
between Dickens Avenue and Collins Avenue,have been cleaned twice since March 2025,a third
cleaning was completed during the week of July 28,2025,and two additional cleanings are
scheduled to occur before the end of the 2025 calendar year.
The Public Works and Communications Departments are working together to display messaging
on the side of waste collection trucks around the City.Details are being coordinated for this
effort,but below are two mock-ups to see how the designs will look on the trucks:
Sanitation (No Update)
The Sanitation Division continues to provide:
•Hand-sweeping crews and mechanical sweeping are conducted three times per week in
the Park View area (Monday,Wednesday,and Friday).The Multihog machine operates
on alternating days (Tuesday,Thursday,and Saturday),focusing on alleyways between
73°and 76"Streets.
•There are eleven (11)doggie-bag dispensers installed in the area of Park View Island,
they are refilled twice weekly,and the associated waste is collected daily (seven days a
week).
•Service frequency in Crab Alley has increased from twice to three times per week.Crews
have been equipped with extended-reach pick sticks (up 6 feet)to improve access within
the mangroves.
•New,once a week service is being provided to the mangroves located between 72°and
73°Street on the west side.
•An additional litter can has been placed at 75"Street and Dickens Avenue street end.
•Waste haulers,Waste Management and Waste Connections were asked to check all the
garbage cans in the alleys from 73°to 76"Street to make sure that all cans had plugs
and lids that were functioning properly,have completed their work.
Homeless Services Engagements
Below is a summary of the Housing &Community Services Department's activities in the Park
View area from August 20,2025 -August 25,2025:
Parkview Homeless Services Engagements:
New Hope visit at 11:15 PM.No persons
8/20/2025 found.
Homeless Outreach Services Team visit New Hope visit at 10:20 PM.No persons
8/21/2025 at 11 :00 PM.No person(s)found.found.
8/22/2025 New Hope visit.No persons found.
Homeless Outreach Services Team visit
at 3:00 PM.(1)persons engaged.New Hope visit at 12:00 AM.(1)person
8/23/2025 Refused services.persons enqaqed.Refused services.
Homeless Outreach Services Team visit
at 10:30 AM.(1)persons engaged.
8/24/2025 Refused services.New Hope visit.No persons found.
Homeless Outreach Services Team visit
at 10:06 AM.(1)persons engaged.New Hope visit at 12:30 AM.(1)person
8/25/2025 Refused services.persons engaged.Refused services.
Code Compliance
To support "Operation Clean Water,"Code Compliance has conducted weekly walk-throughs in
the North Beach watershed area,completing 625 inspections.These inspections check for
sanitation issues such as illegal dumping,overflowing dumpsters,and trash in the alleys.These
efforts resulted in 97 written violations for the creation of a health hazard/nuisance.The data below
is from the timeframe of March 19 to August 27,2025.
Violations Count
City Code Violation 3
Environmental -Illicit Discharqe 3
Property Maintenance Violation 7
Deteriorated Rain Gutter 1
Rain Gutter (Stagnant Water)1
Stagnant Water 4
Tree Debris 1
Sanitation Violation 87
Deteriorated Dumpster 1
Garbage/Trash Alley 2
Illegal Dumping/Disposal 61
Illicit Discharge (Raw Sewage,Grease)4
No Garbaqe Container Permit 1
No Garbaae Service 1
Overflowing Dumpster 11
Overflowing Dumpster/Illegal Dumping Alley 3
Refrigerator on ROW 2
Dumpster on ROW 1
Grand Total 97
Pursuing Dredging to Increase Flow/Flushing (No Update)
Since Park View Canal is an angled and narrow canal within the Tatum Waterway,natural flushing
to dilute pollutants associated with urban stormwater runoff is limited.Dredging of the canal is a
potential option to increase flushing of the waterway.Bathymetric and geotechnical surveys and
flushing analysis are completed.These analyses are necessary to understand the efficacy of
potential dredging of the canal.The results of these evaluations are being carefully reviewed for
desired water quality outcomes.If the construction phase moves forward,project mobilization is
recommended to coincide with the hydrodynamic separator installation to reduce sediment inputs
into the canal following dredging.
For more information,contact
Rodneyknowles@miamibeachfl_gov.d%.
Rodney Knowles,Assistant Director at
1-15-BBE Lateral Lini
Run #1--Pa le 1
Point Repair Needed-
7LF from C01N
3991-15-BBE Lateral Lin
Run #1--Pa le 2
EXHIBIT-A
int Repairs Nee
x2
em O
Lining Completed
Pipe to be Lined
Pipe Cleaned Completed
Lining Completed
Pipe to be Lined
Pipe Cleaned Completed
Lining Completed
Abandon Pipe
(Per MeetingSection'A4on 8-wl School Boar
27-25)
C01B
C Andcom9%.
as4o""
weer9",~.aBoardon
Pipe to be Lined
Cleaned Complet
1-15-BBE Lateral Li
Run #3 -Pae 4 I Completed I
Lining Completed
Area to be Open Cut and
replaced with PVC Piping
(Per Meeting on 8-27-25
with School Board)1st
EXHIBIT-B
Sanitary Sewer Assessment and Rehabilitation Summary (No Update)
The Public Works Department has had a proactive,nonstop,find-and-fix approach to performing
its sanitary sewer assessment and rehabilitation efforts.The work has been a joint effort between
the Public Works Operations Division's in-house staff and contractors.Below is a summary of the
work completed thus far in the Park View Island and Park View extended areas:
City Wide Smoke Test and Manhole Assessment (2021):Smoke Test and Manhole
Inspection was performed on the gravity sewer system Citywide by a contractor first half of
2021.Smoke tests detect private and public defects on sewer laterals as well as any illegal
connection of private drainage systems to public sanitary sewer systems.All public defects
were rehabilitated by Operations within a month of discovery.Private defects were reported
to Miami-Dade Department of Environmental Resource Management (DERM)per Chapter 24
County Code for enforcement.
Clean and Video Inspection (CCTV)of all Sewer Gravity Pipe in Park View Island and
Park View extended area (July 2021):A contractor was hired to do a complete video
inspection of 100%of all gravity sewer mains in Park View Island and Park View extended
area on public property.CCTV of the inside of the gravity pipe is done to understand the
condition of the pipe and to put together the scope of work for the needed type of rehabilitation.
Force main Air Release Valve (ARV}Replacement Program by Public Works Operations
(February 2023):On February 2023 Operations completed the force main ARV Replacement
Project for the force mains associated with Sewer Pump Station #23 and Sewer Pump Station
#24.These two force mains are in the area of Park View extended area.A total of sixteen
(16)ARVs were replaced or rehabilitated.
Leak Detection Dye Test on Transmission System by Operations and Engineering (1°
Qtr.2023):Dye was introduced into the wet wells of Sewer Pump Station #23 and Sewer
Pump Station #24 to test the integrity of the transmission system (pressurized pipe).Several
staff members from Public Works'Operations and Engineering teams were positioned in
various locations at canal outfalls,stormwater manholes,and on a boat in Park View Canal for
approximately 2 to 3 hours.No dye was observed in the canal nor in the stormwater system.
Gravity Sewer Lining and Manhole Rehabilitation of Park View Island (1 Qtr.2023):
Approximately 98%of sewer laterals were lined and 95%of manholes were rehabilitated in
Park View.Suspect laterals were also inspected using CCTV and were found to be in good
condition on the public property.Lining and rehabilitation of sewer and manholes extends the
life of the infrastructure and stops leaks in or out of the structure.
Gravity Sewer Lining and Manhole Rehabilitation of Park View Extended Area (4"Qtr.
2024):Approximately 98%of the sewer gravity lines from 72°Street north to 76"Street,and
Dickens Avenue to Ocean Terrace were inspected using CCTV and lined in order to extend
the infrastructure's lifespan and to stop any observed leaks.The manholes were rehabilitated
as needed in the area.
Complete Rehabilitation of Sewer Pump Station #23 on 75"Street (1°Qtr.2023):
Complete rehabilitation of the sewer pump station,including the replacement of two existing
pumps and motors,and replacing 20 linear feet of piping,two check valves,and two plug
valves.Pump station wet well rehabilitation was done as part of the Citywide well rehabilitation
project.
City Wide Pump Station Wet Well Rehabilitation (Completed August 2025):Rehabilitation
and lining of seventeen (17)sewer pump station wet wells Citywide.The remaining six (6)wet
wells will be rehabilitated as part of future Public Works projects.A wet well collects all sanitary
flow from the contributing basin to be pumped via force main to the Miami-Dade Central
Wastewater Treatment Plant.Rehabilitation and lining extents the lifespan of the wet well and
seals any existing leaks.
CCTV of Laterals on Public Property at 75"Street and Dickens Avenue Intersection by
Public Works Operations (03/16/2024):Operations conducted a CCTV assessment of the
lateral pipes in the public right-of-way,located at the intersection of 75"Street and Dickens
Avenue,including only the portion of the lateral coming from Biscayne Beach Elementary on
75"Street that lies within the right-of-way.The public right-of-way laterals on Dickens Avenue
and 75"Street intersection were found to be in good condition.
Force Main Leak Detection (City Wide)Performed by Contractor (09/2024):A Citywide
leak detection test was performed by a contractor on the sanitary sewer transmission system
in early September 2024.The leak detection test revealed no leaks.
CCTV of Private Biscayne Beach Elementary up to and including the ROW by Public
Works Operations (04/26/2025):The School's as-built records from the 1990's were shared
with the City in 2024.The records showed one existing lateral line extending from the school
to the public manhole at 75"Street.Public Works Operations performed a CCTV inspection
of the private lateral pipe from visible cleanouts or access points on the school's property.The
CCTV inspections on the private laterals identified several deficiencies,and at one point,the
CCTV inspection was abandoned due to buckling/pipe belly-and-sag due to severe corrosion
and heavy sediment buildup inside of the private sewer pipe.Operations marked the
approximate location of the private lateral based on the CCTV inspection performed that day,
and uploaded the survey information to the City's GIS system.The school also conducted their
own independent CCTV inspection of the lateral the same day (04/26/2025),alongside
Operations.
Dye Test on Biscayne Elementary Lateral (05/05/2025)by Operations:Dye testing was
performed by introduced dye into cleanouts (access points within the lateral lines,)and at the
school's toilet in an attempt to locate any leaks into stormwater system.Even though the test
was performed at the lowest tide (10:00 AM)that day,the school's private stormwater system
remained full,therefore,the dye test was inconclusive.
Visual Inspection of Stormwater Conflict Structure that houses City force main
(05/16/2025 &05/17/2025)by Operations:On 05/16/2025,the Operations team conducted
a visual inspection of the conflict manhole at low tide (11 :20 AM)and at high tide (5:20 PM)to
determine the integrity of the force main.Operations returned the next day (5/17/2025)to clean
the force main at the conflict structure.The force main was found to be in good condition with
no leaks.Both the duplex Sewer Pump Station #23 and #24 were turned on by hand at the
time of the observation.No leaks were detected on the force main.