Nearly 1 million gallons of sewage was just dumped into Florida's Indian River Lagoon

Faulty equipment is being blamed for almost 870,000 gallons of wastewater leaked into Indian River Lagoon in Titusville, Florida, on Monday.

Titusville Water Resources stopped the leak within three hours after its discovery, according to the City of Titusville. The cause of the mess was an old force main that was not properly abandoned or replaced nearly 40 years ago. A portion of the main was still active, which caused it to burst and introduce sewage into the body of water near Indian River Avenue.

The area was disinfected and cleared up according to state regulations, and the Florida State Department of Environmental Protection has been made aware of the situation.

“Repairing and replacing infrastructure is one of the biggest expenses for a utility," said Sean Stauffer, Titusville Water Resources Director. "Florida’s coastal soils are very hard on pipes, concrete and other parts of the infrastructure, so it’s a never-ending process to keep things repaired.”

This poses a threat due to the brown algae problem that arose back in 2016 but has remained a consistent issue since. According to Florida Today, the rise of this ecosystem-killing algae hit a high again this past March and is on the verge of creating similar destruction again.

Now with this sewage spill, the issue may be intensified.

Just this past February, Indian River Lagoon was threatened with wastewater pollution from inappropriately placed septic tanks, according to the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

Back again in October, TC Palm reported the lagoon was affected by polluted stormwater runoff from Lake Okeechobee, which faced pollution issues from Hurricane Irma.

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