MARCO ISLAND — Was this newspaper being stonewalled? And if so, why? That’s just a couple of questions this reporter is left with following an accident near a temporary pump for a sewer lift station on San Marco Road Dec. 12, which led to a geyser of 18,000 gallons of raw sewage.

The Marco Eagle requested information about the process of testing the waters near the Landmark Canal where Public Information Coordinator Lisa Douglass said about 8,000 gallons of sewage was emitted.

Friday morning the Eagle learned that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection was investigating the spill. At that time, City Environmental Specialist Nancy Richie said she would not take samples because she believed FDEP was taking them.

DEP spokesman Eli Fleishauer did not return calls from the Eagle until Monday when he said DEP had determined their agency’s investigation and oversight of the spill was not necessary.

Richie said Wednesday morning that the Collier County Department of Health took samples at Residents Beach and South Beach Saturday and determined the results were “in the good range for bacteria levels.”

She added that there were no signs of concern in the Landmark Waterway as evidenced by a lack of algae bloom, fish kills or sea grass die off.

Ken Rech of the Collier County Department of Health reported these results to the city Saturday, Richie said.

The Collier County Department of Health did not return calls from the Eagle as of early Thursday afternoon.

Douglass said Monday that water tests were not being taken near the Landmark Canal where the spill occurred and thus no results were available.

Tuesday, Douglass maintained upon further request from the Eagle, that tests were not taken.

Wednesday morning, the Eagle obtained what appeared to be a document indicating the City of Marco Island’s Utilities Department was a client of Sanders Laboratories, Inc., in Fort Myers and was requesting fecal coliform tests of water samples taken at a variety of Marco Island addresses near the sewer pump failure. The document indicated that Bart Bradshaw, a collections and distributions manager within the utility department, was who the lab was reporting to. The time stamp on the fax was 1:47 p.m., Monday.

Douglass maintained Wednesday afternoon, upon urging from the Eagle that she made sure tests were not taken.

“I understand your frustration, but I cannot provide you data we do not have. No one at the city has results,” Douglass wrote in an e-mail Wednesday afternoon.

The Eagle informed Douglass and City Manager Steve Thompson that a document appears to indicate otherwise.

While city officials were maintaining no tests were taken and no results available, microbiologist Katie Strothman of Sanders Laboratories shared her analysis of the city-ordered water test results.

“Fecal coliform is found in waterways naturally,” Strotham said.

She added that the levels were high as would be expected immediately following the incident.

“Next day it was all just about gone,” Strotham said.

While Fleishauer said the surface water testing standards are set by the state health department rather than DEP, he did say the initial numbers were considerably higher than would be allowed, but based on the results read to him over the phone by the Eagle, he surmised the quantities of fecal coliform were back to normal by Sunday.

Thompson said Douglass was not properly informed by other city staffers that these tests were being taken.

Douglass said Wednesday evening that Thompson was briefed on the results of the lab tests verbally.

“I should have had the correct information. I am sorry I did not. I will double check my information before finalizing my answers,” Douglass said.

Thompson and Douglass said they did not know how a resident obtained the results before the city did.

Douglass said she, Thompson and Bradshaw didn’t see the results until nearly 5 p.m., Wednesday.

Thompson and Douglass would not confirm as of Thursday afternoon who might have misled Douglass concerning inquires she alleges to have made on the Eagle’s behalf.

There were three samples taken Friday about 9:30 a.m. or about three hours after the spill. Samples were taken at the point where the sewage entered the water, upstream and downstream, Douglass said.

The sample results are reported in CFUs (colony forming units) and the number of CFUs is related to the viable number of bacteria in the sample, she wrote in an e-mail to the Eagle Wednesday.

The state standard is 800 CFUs for surface water and Friday morning’s test results showed 37,000 CFUs at the point of the spill, 67,000 CFUs upstream and 280,000 downstream.

“This would be expected as the sampling was from a sewage spill,” Douglass said.

One of the tests taken by the city is not legally permissible, she added, because Friday afternoon samples were taken, but not tested within the six hour limit, so are helpful but not absolutes. The results were all 100 CFUs.

Samples were taken Saturday that indicate levels of 100 CFUs at two locations and 800 CFUs at one location. All three samples from Sunday were 100 CFUs.

Richie’s hope on Friday that high tidal activity was working on the Island’s side to naturally flush the waste, seems to have occurred, results indicate.

Check marconews.com for updates on the issue. Supporting documents are in a sidebar on this page.

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