Downtown Lateral Line Letters Unrelated to Bruce Beach Mission
by Jeremy Morrison
Some downtown Pensacola property owners have received letters from the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority informing them that they must make repairs to their sewer lines, but the utility’s focus on customers in the area is apparently a routine procedure and unrelated to the current efforts to determine the source of human waste in the stormwater system.
According to ECUA Spokesperson Nathalie Bowers, the utility has long assessed the wastewater lines going from the main line to a customer’s property — the so-called lateral lines — and notified the property owner of any needed repairs. It’s just that such efforts are now being focused on the downtown area.
“To date, these efforts have followed the areas identified with the greatest need in our collection system, and we are now turning our attention to the downtown area,” Bowers explained in an Oct. 5 email to Inweekly. “Over the past three years, we have sent approximately 400 letters to customers whose private laterals contained defects.”
For years, the ECUA has been working — as per a consent order from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection — to assess its system and repair any sources of infiltration, points where wastewater is escaping, or stormwater is entering the system. Inspections of the lateral lines began in 2020, with property owners responsible for any needed repairs.
“Our goal was/is to address our part of the collection system before requesting that private lines be tended to,” Bowers wrote.
Last year, the city of Pensacola was alerted to human waste contamination at Bruce Beach, where a multi-million dollar public improvement project is currently underway. And earlier this year, the city partnered with ECUA to determine the source of the contamination.
Over the summer, wastewater line connections at government buildings in the area were inspected, with no sources of infiltration found. More recently, Bowers said, ECUA worked with the city to conduct field sampling, with some hotspots identified.
“The City of Pensacola and ECUA completed initial testing in mid-September, and we are continuing to investigate both of our respective collection systems’ infrastructures,” Bowers detailed the current status. “Specifically, the field sampling and testing were conducted on Sept. 13 and 14. Two areas were identified for further study based on high E.coli results and one high detergent result. Those areas are on Coyle Street in the two blocks north of Government Street and on Spring Street, north of Romana Street. The ECUA and FDEP labs’ results were consistent regarding these locations.”
Despite finding high E.coli — poo poo, in popular parlance — levels in these areas and conducting additional camera inspections of the underlying lines, Bowers said no illicit connections or sources of infiltration have been found. Currently, ECUA is in discussions with the city and FDEP regarding the next steps in the process.
This area where hotspots have been located overlaps with the general area where ECUA is now begun inspecting lateral lines. Pensacola City Hall, in fact, is located a stone’s throw from these identified hotspots, and it received a letter from ECUA informing the city that its Community Redevelopment Area would be responsible for some lateral line repairs.
As with any such letters, the utility has included the specific issues found via CCTV camera inspection — in this instance, “broken joints due to root intrusion” and “clay pipe with failed gaskets at each pipe joint” — along with four photos of the damage and informs the recipient that if they fail to make the repairs within six month, then a $50 monthly service surcharge will be added to their bill.
In this case, however, ECUA’s letter was a mistake. According to city officials, their lateral lines are in the clear, and the letter was a clerical error.
“Yes,” clarified Victoria D’Angelo, assistant CRA manager. “We were advised that the letter was in error.”
For other ECUA customers who have received letters from ECUA and do indeed face the task of repairing their lateral lines, it will likely be a costly job. According to Pensacola Public Information Officer Kaycee Lagarde, some property owners may qualify for some financial assistance when repairing their lateral lines.
“Homestead residents in City of Pensacola limits who received these letters from ECUA may be eligible for financial assistance through the city’s rehabilitation program, subject to income eligibility,” Lagarde said.
For more information about this financial assistance through the city, residents may contact the City of Pensacola Housing Department at 850-858-0306.