FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—City officials slapped a precautionary waterway advisory in Fort Lauderdale yesterday after an embarrassing blunder resulted in a sewage spill at George English Lake. As crews toiled to mend a break, a truck driver goofed, unloading raw sewage into a stormwater system that feeds the lake, creating an environmental faux pas visible on residents' cellphone videos.
As per a WSVN report, Public Works Director Alan Dodd shared, "Well, we have a contractor who is coming, they’ll be using chemicals agents to clean up the material, so they’ll be going on the shoreline and using other methods to clean it up, Vactor trucks, to get as much out of the waterways as possible." He continued with an urgent advisory, "We don’t want anybody going into the water, touching it until the clean up is done and done testing to make sure that there is no bacteria that’s still present."
The City of Fort Lauderdale echoed Dodd's caution via X, discouraging residents from dunking themselves or dropping fishing lines in the affected waterways. Fort Lauderdale's own Twitter account cautioned against a slew of activities including swimming, jet-skiing, and paddle-boarding, emphasizing the health risks at George English Lake and parts of the Middle River. The directive affects multiple areas—bounded by NE 12th Street to the north, Sunrise Boulevard to the south, NE 20th Avenue to the west, and Bayview Drive to the east.
A precautionary waterway advisory is in effect for George English Lake and a portion of the Middle River. Avoid swimming, fishing or other water activities in the area. More info: 🔗 https://t.co/jCYuGXJuwb pic.twitter.com/OYZn8xFhlW
— City of Fort Lauderdale (@FTLCityNews) February 16, 2024
Rest assured, the "no-go" zone isn't forever. The advisories, both from City post on X and WSVN, will hold till test results come back clean. Until then, attempts to rinse the waterways of sewage will continue, Fort Lauderdale's strategy hinges on aggressive cleanup and rigorous testing to win back their water's good graces. The timeline for lifting the advisory will depend strictly on how fast contamination levels can be scrubbed to satisfactory standards.
