HomeMy WebLinkAboutLTC 114-2026 UPDATE ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF OPERATION CLEAN WATER PROGRAM - #17MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
LTC #114-2026
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT:
LETTER TO COMMISSION
Honorable Mayor Steven Meiner and Members of the City Commission
Eric carpenter, City Manager &uc, �
March 17, 2026
UPDATE ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF "OPERATION CLEAN WATER"
PROGRAM -#17
The purpose of this Letter to Commission (L TC) is to provide the Mayor and City Commission with
a summary of staff's efforts to date, as it relates to "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 (LUSC), City staff provided an update on the North Beach Water Quality and Park View Canal Report. The discussion concluded with a motion, directing the Administration to provide weekly updates on the
"Operation Clean Water" efforts at the Park View Canal, with a focus on Biscayne Beach
Elementary hotspots, associated lateral pipe-lining, above-ground cleanliness (alleyways, street sweeping, pressure washing), and homeless outreach. At the September 11, 2025 LUSC meeting,
Committee members made a motion to move the item to the City Commission for discussion, with
a favorable recommendation to: 1) Authorize an independent, third-party review of the Sanitary Sewer Pump Station 23; 2) Expand the monthly water quality study to authorize and fund weekly water testing in Park View Canal; 3) Expedite the comprehensive infrastructure study for North
Beach; and to maintain Park View Canal as a standing item on the Committee's agenda for regular
updates.
At the direction of the City Commission as part of Operation Clean Water, the City of Miami Beach
entered into a formal agreement with the University of Miami (UM) in August of 2025 for the
creation of an Ultraviolet Sanitization Pilot Project with the objective of evaluating whether street
cleaning can reduce levels of enterococci entering the stormwater system. The pilot project aimed
to clean the test area, 73rd Street (a documented street level enterococci "hot spot,") by increasing
the frequency of mechanical street sweeping activities, remove visible debris and fecal deposits
manually, and the use of ultra-violet (UV) light, an environmentally friendly technology that cleans
without leaving a chemical residue, to disinfect street surfaces. The pilot project's cleaning and
testing phases were completed on October 17, 2025. The final report was shared with the City on
January 30, 2026, and reviewed for statistically significant results, recommendations, and next
steps. Key findings in the report indicate enterococci levels are very high on untreated surfaces
(streets and sidewalks); cleaning of these surfaces reduces fecal bacteria concentrations,
particularly with repeated treatments. Street sweeping achieves a material, basin-scale reduction,
and adding sidewalk sweeping extends the benefit, especially under tree canopy hotspots. The
key purpose of the study, however, was to evaluate the effectiveness of UV technologies, and
while the pilot project reveals the practice could be effective in theory or principle, there is
significant engineering needed before the technology can be deployed in a meaningful way. There
are critical real-world limitations like street/sidewalk roughness, UV lamp angle, and obstructions