A pipe dumping millions of gallons of treated sewage into the Atlantic Ocean daily from a wastewater plant operated by Delray Beach and Boynton Beach is triggering algae blooms that have killed part of a popular coral reef.
A group of recreational divers called Palm Beach County Reef Rescue discovered the alleged connection between the pipe and the damage. The group's scientific study of the reef's demise has drawn the attention of state and county environmental regulators. The divers say a 30-inch-wide pipe from the South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment and Disposal Plant is spewing a nitrogen- and nutrient-rich flow that drifts north with the Gulf Stream current. That is fertilizing the profuse growth of filamentous red algae on the north end of Gulf Stream Reef, an outcropping in 45 to 85 feet of water off Boynton Beach, 1.5 miles down current from the pipe and directly in line with it.
EDIT
The same kind of algae overtaking Gulf Stream Reef has cropped up on extensive areas of Broward County's middle reef tract the past two years, environmental officials said. After the Gulf Stream Reef bloom began in March 2002, Tichenor, a Boynton Beach resident, took notice with other divers, and began to check out what they suspected was the source: the pipe streaming cloudy green to brown sewage into clear blue water off the beach end of Atlantic Avenue. Tichenor had given up a 20-year career focused on contamination assessment to own and operate a window treatment business, but he put his old expertise back to work. He and his group gathered treatment plant outflow data, made numerous monitoring dives and kept logs of changes in the bloom, snapped photos and prepared graphics to build their case.
After its work received a cool reception at first from state environmental regulators, Tichenor said, the group cranked out more reports and approached more agencies. The result: The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Palm Beach County's environmental department both think Reef Rescue has built a compelling case. This summer, the department told the plant's executive director, Robert Hagel, to devise a monitoring program that would collect water samples near the reef and pipe. The agency also asked him to investigate ways to reduce the volume of treated sewage or nitrogen content injected into the ocean, and suggested examining whether the pipe could be extended farther offshore to avoid affecting the reefs.
EDIT
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-psewerpipe16oct16,0,1885960.story?track=mostemailedlinkYeah, let's not look at ways to maybe fully treat the sewage - that might cost real money! No, instead, let's extend the pipe farther offshore and hope that it makes the problem less noticable. In any case, now we can study it for a few dozen years . . .