FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — Fernandina Beach officials have seen a spike in illegal activity, and it’s tied to all the recent rain.
They’re finding manholes and wastewater cleanouts uncovered, letting the flood waters drain in.
Manholes are typically massive, heavy and in the middle of the road, so the main issue Fernandina Beach officials are seeing is with smaller wastewater cleanouts, which could have a metal cover or PVC by your home.
Folks may notice opening it up helps alleviate flooding, but it leads to a bigger, more expensive issue down the line.
“We’ve seen, I won’t say historic rainfall, but significantly above average for these months throughout the county, so that’s been putting our stormwater and utility systems at capacity," said Fernandina Beach Utilities Director Andre Desilet.
Desilet has noticed a concerning trend – more water getting into the wastewater treatment plants than normal during this wet summer.
“Some part of it is going to leak through a manhole cover," said Desilet. "You’re going to have leaks in a system, but the amount of water we’re seeing, it’s getting in there some other way.”
Desilet said wastewater is separated from stormwater in Fernandina Beach, meaning the water running under a manhole isn’t going to the same place as what you see going into a storm drain.
“It’s very costly to treat wastewater, and when we’re treating wastewater we don’t have to, it puts a burden on the system, and it puts us at capacity and water is not getting properly treated," said Desilet.
Desilet is encouraging residents dealing with flooding to leave their cleanouts alone, and instead reach out to stormwater management so they can assess the issue.
“We have seen flooding in a lot of areas where we haven’t in the recent past," said Desilet. "It’s drawn our attention to look at, ‘What’s the cause? What has changed, and what can we do to improve that in the future?’”
Desilet said if you do want to help get water moving faster, he recommends keeping debris away from stormwater drains, but leaving those cleanouts to the professionals.