The city of St. Augustine is monitoring the San Sebastian River after a sewage spill this weekend. A power outage at a city utility station sent thousands of gallons of untreated sewage flowing into the river.
A raccoon shorted out power to a sewer lift station at the end of Helen Street in St. Augustine at around 10 p.m. on Friday. But city crews were not aware of it until 8 a.m. the next morning. They restored power, but not before an estimated 60,000 gallons of sewage flowed into the San Sebastian.
St. Augustine Public Works Director Martha Graham says her department is investigating why it took so long for them to respond to the power outage.
"There was an alarm that came out of the station that goes to our water plant. We have 24-hour operators on hand to monitor if there were any alarms. So we’re still in the process of investigating," Graham said.
The Public Works Department notified the Florida Department of Environmental Protection about the sewage spill, posted signs to notify residents, and is now conducting sampling to monitor water quality. Samples from the first day of monitoring showed sewage indicators below normal, Graham says. She expects FDEP to give the city an all-clear soon.
