Longboat Key builds funds first, then aims to construct sewer pipeline

Longboat Key's sewer line project aims to add redundancy to a system that previously had not had that luxury.

Gathering funding from a variety of sources and permission from a batch of state and federal agencies, the town of Longboat Key aims by 2024 to begin building a second underwater sewer line to link island businesses and residences to Manatee County’s mainland treatment plant.

The project, estimated to cost around $24 million, won’t be a one-and-done effort though it is designed to last decades, said Public Works Director Isaac Brownman.

Fast-tracked from a 10-year goal to the town’s five-year capital improvement plan after a mainland-side break in 2020 that spilled millions of gallons of town sewage, the project will build redundancy into a sewer system that hasn’t previously included that luxury. Under current thinking, the new two-mile pipe will take over as the primary link to Manatee County while the original pipeline is kept, monitored and maintained in reserve.