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Failing Florida Treatment Plant Pumped Sewage Into Mangroves

An overflowing percolation pond has been intermittently leaking into mangroves in Everglades City since April 7.
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An overflowing percolation pond has been intermittently leaking into mangroves in Everglades City since April 7.

State inspectors say a failing sewage plant in southwest Florida pumped hundreds of thousands of gallons of inadequately treated liquid sewage into nearby mangroves earlier this year.

The Naples Daily News reports that Florida's Department of Environmental Protection has asked a judge to issue an injunction to force Everglades City to make fixes at the plant to stop similar discharges.

The city also needs to haul off wastewater from an overflowing percolation pond, which has been intermittently leaking into the same mangroves since April 7.

Officials say the city has started working with the DEP to make the fixes, stopping the most serious discharge. Engineers have been hired to design a new sewage plant.

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