TALLAHASSEE — The Sierra Club says Florida has failed to follow federal law by allowing treated sewage injected underground to leach into drinking water.
In a suit filed in federal court Thursday in Tallahassee, the group argues the state has known for a decade that wastewater wells in Miami-Dade County were leaking contaminants into the upper Floridan aquifer, part of a vast underground water system that stretches to North Carolina.
The federal Safe Drinking Water Act bans injecting wastewater into the ground if it migrates into drinking water supplies.
At a Tallahassee press conference, Sierra Club representatives said injected sewage containing fecal coliform, nitrogen and ammonia was being detected in the aquifer dating to 1994.
The suit names the state Department of Environmental Protection and its secretary, Colleen Castille, and asks the court to order Florida to comply with the federal act. It contends the agency warned the county about the violations in 1994, but let its wastewater facility continue to expand its injection system.
"Disposing of the sewage underground is the cheapest disposal method out there. It's allowed for rapid growth in Florida at very minimal cost," said Kristin Henry, a San Francisco attorney for the group.
Cities from Jacksonville and Tallahassee to Lakeland and Tampa get drinking water from parts of the Floridan aquifer. In Brevard County, Cocoa and Melbourne have wells drawing water from the aquifer.
The department issued a four-paragraph rebuttal saying Florida has spent $1.8 billion to treat stormwater and upgrade facilities, and that drinking water "is better protected today than it was five years ago."
In 2002, Florida's counties and cities injected 361 million gallons of partially treated sewage a day underground, according to DEP records. The department said the more than 125 injection wells in operation "meet rigorous standards and are closely monitored" for leakage.
The suit doesn't allege the contaminants have caused any physical harm to residents.
"The reason nobody's turned up sick is because nobody's looking," said John Glenn, the safe drinking water chairman of Sierra's Florida chapter.
Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday he's "not concerned" by the allegations.
Sierra Club sued the state last year over separate alleged clean water violations in a case that's still being litigated.
"If there are any specific suggestions why we should be concerned, I'd be happy to hear from them," the governor said, adding, "Lawsuits aren't the typical way that one gives a thoughtful heads-up about water-quality issues."
