Longboat Key awaits FDEP feedback for pipeline reassessment

Longboat Key leaders are working with state regulators on a series of planned inspections of the town’s sewage link to the mainland following the June 2020 pipeline break and spill of millions of gallons of effluent in Manatee County.

The town is waiting for feedback from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on the inspection plans and will proceed with the 10-month project once given the go-ahead.

The town is proposing a two-step inspection, beginning with a remote-controlled device that's inserted into the sewage flow on the Longboat Key side and examines the pipeline on its voyage to the Manatee County treatment plant. Following the examination, data will be compared to a similar inspection done in 2016.

“As it’s traversing the pipeline, it identifies areas where they may be gas pockets or other anomalies,” Public Works Director Isaac Brownman said, adding accumulations of potentially corrosive hydrogen sulfide would be cause for further study.

“It’s important just to note if it’s occurring,” Brownman said. “It doesn’t necessarily mean the pipe is corroding in that location.”

The pipeline will also be inspected for external corrosion.

Beyond that, divers could be employed to visually inspect or perform other methods of inspection.