Main break in Tallahassee releases more than 105K gallons of wastewater

According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection pollution notice released Tuesday evening, a force main break led to the release of 105,700 gallons of untreated wastewater Tuesday morning.

The department said in a notice the cause of the break was discovered when the pressure drop alarm was activated.

When city of Tallahassee crews arrived to the T P Smith Water Reclamation Facility at 7684 Preservation Road, it was determined that the 12 inch break was caused by a tree that fell on a portion of exposed pipe.

Crews shut down Pump Station 94 to make repairs. The untreated wastewater entered a drainage canal, which is connected to the Shelly Pond Stormwater facility.

As of Tuesday evening, the department of environmental protection said that crews began the clean-up process by disinfecting impacted soils and had a recovery pump in place to recover stormwater and wastewater mixture from the canal as it entered Shelly Pond.

Residents that were impacted by the incident were notified.