Over 200,000 gallons of raw sewage "bubbling up" in a Florida city for many months.

[madfloridian]

Probably way more than that, since the owner of the property reported the terrible smell as early as April 2007. Here is how the owner described the leak.

At times, Moore said, the land looks like the image of the Beverly Hillbillies theme song, 'And up through the ground came a bubblin' crude ... '

This is how infrastructure deteriorates when taxes are cut to the bone, when state agencies are incompetent, when no one wants to take responsibility.

Raw Sewage Leaking Near Center of Mulberry


WATER AND SEWER Lift Station No. 3 of the City of Mulberry sits adjacent to the property where raw sewage has been leaking for months.
MICHAEL WILSON | THE LEDGER

Hundreds of thousands of gallons of raw sewage has leaked onto vacant property near the heart of town and is fueling concern that residents and school children may be exposed to health risks. And the fix isn't cheap.

...."Irene Mercado, 60, whose property borders Moore's, spent 15 days in Lakeland Regional Medical Center and was released July 3. She said she has been diagnosed with MRSA, an infection characterized by staph bacteria found on the skin and mucous membranes. Her home smells, both inside and out. She is sickly, has a rash and coughs a lot. Mercado cannot prove the sewage leak made her sick. But her doctor has ordered her out of her home until the problem is fixed. She's staying with her daughter in Lakeland.

A storm-water ditch runs downstream from Moore's property to nearby Purcell Elementary School. Purcell's playground fence runs almost to the ditch, which is full. The Polk school system has taken samples of the playground soil nearest the drainage ditch for testing. Schools Superintendent Gail McKinzie said the results should be available next week. If there's a problem with that soil, McKinzie said, Mulberry, not the School Board, is going to fix it.

'We don't have an option of not providing a safe playground,' she said. 'Mulberry needs to step up and get it right.'

Odd things have been happening with local wildlife on his property.

Moore has found dead ducks, dead otters and a dead alligator on his property, plus a bizarre 'dark yellow' alligator he said is either a victim of the pollution or a mutant.

Moore's lawyer says "he calls DEP so often that the regulatory agency is one of his cell phone's 'Favorite Five."

[DBoon]

1. raw sewage spilling out in the open

you would think we live in a 3rd world country

[XemaSab]

2. It's Florida; you must mean "you would think THEY live in a 3rd world country."

:hide:



















(I kid, I kid!)

[hendo]

7. Wait, you mean it isn't already one?

:hide:

[DBoon]

10. Florida is a laboratory for right wing social experiments

Once they successfully restore misery and ignorance to Florida, they will work on the rest of the country

[madfloridian]

11. Especially amendments 7 and 9 on the November ballot..

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/2197

Once they succeed in effect in demolishing the public school system, the rest of the country is next.

[L0oniX]

13. With almost a 50% drop out rate I'd say the Florida schools are as good as demolished now.

[madfloridian]

14. Did you see the big headlines this last week? FCAT scores up?

I thought to myself at least the articles expressed some skepticism.

We have become a state of test takers like no other state. I am glad I am retired, I could not bear to go back into the classroom now.

[madfloridian]

3. Yes, it seems that way.

They have cut taxes to the bone, cut services, cut regulatory groups...not much left.

[flvegan]

4. File suit and be done with it.

Drag them all out, run it up the flagpole.

I think that it's less taxes, more imbecile. Meaning it's not as much the diminished money as much as it's the increased stupid.

[BlueJazz]

5. Mulberry..Huh? I'll bet Andy Taylor and Barney Fife will straighten up this shit.

:)

[madfloridian]

8. Well... this city just voted a former KKK leader as a commissioner.

And they did not even know who he was. Odd. I will have to look that up.

[madfloridian]

9. Oops, it was nearby city that did it.

http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2008/05/21/far-right-wins-in-florida-loses-in-indiana/

Lake Wales elected a former grand dragon of the KKK as a commissioner.

[OneBlueSky]

21. um . . . I believe Andy was sheriff of Mayberry . . . n/t

[kestrel91316]

6. But hey, at least the gays can't marry there.

[onethatcares]

12. and you expected sunshine and rainbows or something???

gaud dammint, when jeb took over most Democrats knew it was gonna be bad with the bush rape/pillage/plunder of our state, after all, shouldn't we the people pay to have a faith based voucher school system, no property taxes or at least a portable cap on the mcmansions, a medicare system that is broke, and the opportunity to bear the burden of a rail system that gives all profits and none of the liability to its' owners.

I am a long time transplant and often wonder why I liked it so much back in the 70s.

[ensho]

16. and the children - Fl. is not a state for children unless they are rich

nt

[ensho]

15. this isn't the only sewage system leaking in the country - believe it

most cities, towns, etc. don't have any money to fix anything.

[madfloridian]

17. You are probably right.

I just think Florida under Jeb since 1998 had a head start on making government small enough to fit into a bathtub.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Blue Diadem]

20. Yes, and also the EPA encourages separation of sanitary and storm sewers too.

Besides the failing aged systems that break and leak, many areas had and still have combined systems. After high levels of rain that some systems can't handle, sewer contaminated water overflows and floods homes, fields etc.

Most recently, an area in Oregon Ohio experienced it. 4ft of sewer water in basements, sewage streaming in a swimming area at Maumee Bay/Lake Erie, farm fields flooded with sewer water. You know it's bad when you see toilet paper laying in the field where water receded.

[Agony]

18. Just like in Gaza...

Except there, my tax dollars are contributing to the problem, and in Florida my tax dollars are not contributing to the solution.

[ensho]

22. I thought the same - sewage running in their streets because of

Israli actions

[jberryhill]

23. Waitaminnit....

These people are getting free "nutrient" from the city sewer system, and the city isn't charging them extra for it?

Man, these guys are amateurs.

[Fire Walk With Me]

24. I've seen this happen before, and thankfully know the solution.

Bill Murray and Harold Ramis will walk the Statue of Liberty right into the worst part of the infestation and blast gospel music.

Remember to tell them to never cross the beams.