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Nov 27, 2007 12:47 am US/Eastern
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DeFede: What's In The Water?
POMPANO BEACH (CBS4) ―
Every day in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties almost a half a billion gallons of minimally treated wastewater is pumped off the coast into the ocean.
A little less than a mile off the shore in Pompano is the site of one of those pipes, which can be found about 100-feet down. The sewage coming out of these pipes comes from homes, businesses and hospitals. It is treated at sewage plants before being pumped out to sea but the outfall, as it's called, is still filled with ammonia, nitrogen and phosphorous.
Ed Tichenor, Director of Palm Beach County's Reef Rescue, scientist and former environmental regulator, has argued for years that the wastewater coming out of the pipes acts as a form of fertilizer creating giant algae blooms. The algae ultimately chokes off and kills large sections of the reef.
"Most people don't see it, most people don't realize that sewage is being dumped into the ocean. And when they find out there is a coral reef off the state of Florida and that we are dumping sewage in the ocean, they are shocked to find this out. Most people think that this practice was discontinued years ago," said Tichenor.
Jeff Torode, who has lived in Florida all his life, says as a scuba diver he's seen the destruction first hand.
"This is nothing but a chemical cocktail that feeds algae. Anybody who dives around these pipes knows it's a 'no mans land' down there," said Torode.
During a trip off Pompano Beach Torode took
CBS4's Jim DeFede to what is known as a boil--the spot where the effluent roils to the surface.
If you navigate right by the boil you'll know why they call the stink hole. You can smell it. It has that raw sewage kind of smell, like treated garbage. It's not a pleasant smell at all and it's not the type of experience you want to have sitting out on the ocean.
Terry St. Jean, another one of the founders of Reef Rescue, said diving near the outfall pipes is an experience.
"As you drop down, you see multitudes of fish -- chub, sometimes goliath grouper -- feeding off the effluent that is coming out of the pipes. And as you drift toward the pipe you see this grey, brown, horrid-looking water just shooting up from the bottom, from 90 feet. You try your best not to get into it and you swim down toward the pipe, but it's like a nightmare. You go from crystal clear aqua blue water to this horrid brown murk that's got all kinds of junk coming out of it," said St. Jean.
But all of that could change.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has drafted legislation that would require the three counties to shut down these pipes which have been operating for decades. A department report notes that "the growing weight of evidence indicates that domestic wastewater outfalls represent a threat to the environment."
But there is an even more basic concern.
"Right now the most critical problem is that we are throwing away 400-thousand, 500-thousand, almost half-a-billion gallons of usable water a day during a drought. Environmentalists and state officials argue the water that is being pumped into the ocean, could be treated and used on land - to irrigate farms, lawns, golf courses. In South Florida we treat and reuse only 7% of our wastewater. In the rest of the state, the average is closer to 50%," said John Renfrow, Director of Miami-Dade's Water and Sewer Department.
Renfrow says the county is embarking on a 20-year plan to drive that number up through new plants its building, but it will have little effect on the amount of wastewater being dumped in the ocean.
In fact, officials in Miami-Dade and Broward counties are opposing the proposals by state officials to shut down the ocean pipes. In a letter to Governor Charlie Crist, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez argued that there is not enough scientific evidence to compel closing the pipes.
Click Here To Read The Letter
Alvarez would like the governor to set aside the proposal which would cost the county billions of dollars and could raise water bills by as much as $20 a month.
"Is this harming the reefs? You know what, I don't know. There are two trains of thought on this. That's why being a scientist you look at data and you do studies. I don't know how much more information they could want. By the time they develop that information, the reefs are going to be dead," said Renfrow.
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