It is recommended that the City Commission ratify the action taken by the City Manager to approve the emergency purchase on June 24, 2022 under City Code Sec. 2-396 for the health, safety, and welfare of the city (Attachment 3) as a result of the unfortunate early adjournment of the City Commission on June 22, 2022.

Park View kayak launch and canal water quality concerns and information have been discussed at the Land Use and Sustainability Committee.

On March 4, 2020 Jaffer Wells Drilling, a sub-contractor for Hy-Power, struck a 42-inch sanitary sewer main near the intersection of 17 Street and Lincoln Road. This event caused increased pressure throughout the sanitary system and on March 5, 2020 caused a sewer force main break at the parking lot at 72 Street and Collins Avenue. Following the break, sewage recovery and cleaning efforts began immediately and continued for approximately one week after the spill. Water quality testing began on March 6, 2020 to identify impacts to the surrounding surface waters.

Typically, following a sanitary sewer break, surrounding surface waters will continue to have high bacteria counts for a couple of days following the incident. However, high bacteria counts continued many days following the sewage break repair and further analysis of historical data indicate that this waterway has chronically elevated bacteria levels beyond those caused by the sewer break.

“No Contact Advisory” signage was posted at the kayak launch, notices were issued via the City's Neighborhood Affairs Division team, and information was posted on the City's website. The Public Works Operations Division, along with the Environment and Sustainability Department identified possible sources of cross-contamination in the area along with site specific conditions that potentially could negatively impact the area. The following were identified as potential sources of bacteria: siphon (underwater sewer pipe) between Parkview Island and 72 Street, abandoned force main from North Bay Village at 72 street, abandoned overflow from Sewer Pump Station No. 23 located at 72 Street and Abbot Avenue, human waste from homeless community or otherwise, animal waste, slow movement of water along the canal, possibly limiting "flushing" effect.

Efforts to isolate potential sewer leaks have included multiple dye tests, deep cleaning of the stormwater lines, water quality testing throughout the stormwater system, sediment sampling in the canal, CCTV inspections and smoke testing to determine potential illegal cross connections between private properties sewer lines and the City's stormwater system. The investigations performed to date have not identified any significant deficiencies within the City's public infrastructure that would explain the chronically elevated bacteria concentrations.

In October and November 2020, the City hired Source Molecular to conduct source tracking analysis to identify fecal gene biomarker for humans and/or canines at four locations within the canal. The results indicated that fecal coliform from humans was not detected or detected, but in quantities below the limit of quantification. Fecal coliform for canines had high concentrations in all samples which led the City to launch a multi-tiered outreach campaign to educate the public and encourage people to pick-up after their animals. This campaign includes advertisement on bus shelters, water bills, digital ads, and direct mailing. Educational signs have been installed in the local dog parks, parks, and along the right-of-way and reusable doggie bag dispensers and flyers were distributed to residents walking their dogs in the area as well as to local veterinarians and dog groomers.

In November 2020, the City retained ESciences, a third-party consultant specializing in environmental and ecological investigations, to conduct a thorough analysis of the data and investigations to date and provide a road map forward in the illicit discharge detection and elimination. Concurrently, smoke testing and CCTV inspections have also been performed to determine potential illegal cross connections between private property sewer lines and the City's stormwater system. Between June and August 2021, additional DNA source sampling was conducted to identify fecal gene biomarker for humans and/or canines at four locations within the canal and added a new fecal gene biomarker for birds. The results indicated that fecal coliform from humans was not detected or detected, but in quantities below the limit of quantification. Fecal coliform for canines continued to be detected at high concentrations, and the new biomarker for birds was also detected at high concentrations.

Staff has met with the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) and Miami-Dade County Division of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) to review the data. Their recommendation was to increase education and outreach related to residents cleaning-up after their dogs. To date, the Code Compliance Department has conducted 81 targeted inspections in this area, focusing specifically on dog issues. In addition, another communication effort was made to inform residents in the area of the importance of picking-up after their pets.

The City also had conversations with municipalities in Monroe and Broward Counties to explore other potential solutions for reducing the high bacteria which may be further replicating in the low flow, high nutrient environment of the canal. Potential options include aeration and bubblers to increase dissolved oxygen and potential help increase water movement. These options will require environmental permits and conversation with the regulatory entities are on-going.

To date the City has spent over $70,000 on investigations such as smoke testing, water quality sampling, contracting a third party to perform an unbiased investigation, and in performing additional cleaning and maintenance in the stormwater system. This long-lasting issue is a concern to public health in this waterway.

The lasting high bacteria levels in Park View canal are concerning and an expert in the field of contamination in intertidal zones is necessary to develop permanent solutions. Dr. Helena Solo-Gabriele, Associate Dean, University of Miami College of Engineering, Office of Research is recognized nationally and internationally for her work evaluating microbes in water and sediments.  Her area of focus is the interface between water and sediments in both rivers and in marine environments.  In marine environments, her team has documented new microbial sources and mechanisms of microbe accumulation in the intertidal (or swash) zone.  The traditional viewpoint of beach shore microbe contamination has been through the discharge of sewage from urban communities through ocean outfalls.  Typically, ocean outfalls are designed to discharge treated sewage offshore and to optimize mixing to minimize impacts to beach waters. The studies by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency used to develop regulations for beach water quality are conducted in areas impacted by ocean outfall discharges.

However, Dr. Solo-Gabriele’s team has documented that there are other significant sources of microbes to beaches known as non-point sources.  These sources include humans and animals that frequent the beach shore.  Her team has documented the contributions of microbes from human bathing and from animal feces in nearshore environments.  These local sources are either directly deposited on the shore or washed onshore (e.g., from human bathers) and accumulate in the intertidal sediments.  Her studies have documented elevated concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria (indicate the presence of pathogens) in the nearshore sediments with hot spots in the supratidal zone, the zone at a higher elevation than the intertidal zone.  In addition to work focused on fecal indicator bacteria, her team (as part of the Oceans and Human Health Center at the University of Miami) has conducted pioneering work to evaluate pathogens directly, through traditional culture and innovative molecular techniques, in beach water and sand, followed by risk assessments to suggest acceptable levels for microbes in beach sands.

As a result of the environmental studies focused on microbes in the intertidal zone, the paradigm of water quality has changed.  It has changed from the traditional viewpoint of offshore sewage discharge sources towards onshore non-point sources.  As a result of these studies, the World Health Organization has since added a chapter to their Recreational Beach Water Quality Guidebook which focuses on sand quality.  Dr. Solo-Gabriele was a key contributor to that chapter and wrote the section the provides provisional guidelines for acceptable levels of fecal indicator bacteria in beach sands based upon non-point sources.  This is the first time that regulations have been proposed globally for beach sands.

Dr. Solo-Gabriele was selected due to her extensive background in non-point source pollution and developing recommendations for permanent solutions.  The final report deliverable will include the results of the sampling efforts to identify the source of the non-point source pollution.  The sampling will be expanded to north and south of the kayak area, include more parameters and will be more frequent. The report will also identify recommended solutions and high-level cost estimates to implement the recommendations. 

$122,000.00 in funding for this item is available in the Sustainability and Resiliency Fund, authorized by Ordinance 2016-3993 to be used for environmental restoration projects, environmental remediation projects, environmental monitoring, green infrastructure, enhanced storm water quality and quantity improvements, and sustainability planning efforts.

In order to identify sources of contamination in the Park View kayak launch and canal, it is crucial that the source(s) and solutions for the pollution be identified.  Conducting expanded sampling and analysis is important to identify solutions, as testing to-date has not revealed deficiencies with the City’s infrastructure.  Dr. Solo-Gabriele, an expert in non-point source pollution, is well qualified to lead this analysis and recommendations.