About 5,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled from a containment area Monday to the ground within and surrounding the headworks building at Brevard County’s South Central Treatment Facility in Viera, News 6 partner Florida Today reports.
At about 12:30 p.m., “an unknown event” caused two electrical breakers to trip, resulting in a loss of power to the headworks — the early pretreatment stage of the sewage treatment process, according to a state public notice of the spill.
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“No stormwater or surface waters were impacted. Approximately 2,000 gallons were recovered and the affected area was washed down,” according to the public notice from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
“This was some type of electrical fluke, and they are investigating today why the breakers tripped,” Don Walker, a county spokesman, said via email. “Where sewage comes into the plant there are wells that overflowed and backed up into the floor of the building (which is elevated) and the ground beneath.”
The incident was the latest in a series of spills to take place in Brevard and nearby waterways in recent years.