Serving Hypoluxo Island, South Palm Beach, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge, Briny Breezes, Gulf Stream and Coastal Delray Beach
August 2019
Along the Coast
Volume 12 Issue 8
Gulf Stream
Bone found in sand confirms teen’s 2013 drowning By Ron Hayes
Doug Levine, manager of the South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment plant, checks on one of the trio of million-gallon secondary clarifier tanks where solids are removed from sewage. About 17 million gallons are treated each day at the plant, which is undergoing a multiyear upgrade. More on the process, Page 9. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
Cities rush to fix aging sewer systems
Health, environmental and cost concerns loom By Rich Pollack We live in a flush and forget world. Most of us don’t fully understand what happens when we flush our toilets, or send gallons of water down the drain while taking a shower, doing laundry or washing dishes. Yet at a time when our sewer lines are aging and our septic systems are being blamed for everything from algae blooms to illness, ignoring what is under our roads and yards may no longer be an option. “You can’t just put something in the ground and expect it to last indefinitely,” says Jason Pugsley, vice president of Florida operations for Baxter &
Woodman, an engineering firm that works with several municipalities in Palm Beach County. “Our infrastructure in Palm Beach County is getting to the point where we need to consider either replacing it or significantly improving the systems.” There is a huge cost associated with replacing or improving traditional sewage-collection systems — largely coming out of the wallets of water and sewer customers. There is also a significant cost to the environment, to health and to other existing infrastructure that comes with not acting now and recognizing that some types of buried pipes — though not all — are close to the end of their life expectancy. While we often hear about water service failures, such as the one in Fort Lauderdale last month that affected about
220,000 people, we hardly ever learn about sewer line problems. For example, through mid-July this year, 67 spills in Palm Beach County were reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which keeps records of such incidents. They ranged from a spill of 100 gallons from a broken main in Boca Raton in April to a spill of 2,500 gallons of raw sewage just last month in Delray Beach. That spill, due to a sewer line blockage caused by grease buildup, led to sewage flowing into a parking lot near Veterans Park and into a storm-drain system leading to the Intracoastal Waterway. A barrier that had been previously installed by a contractor at a nearby project contained 90 percent of the discharge before it got into the waterway, according to the city. See SEWER on page 8
Time may never bring true closure to parents who have lost a child, but sometimes it can bring confirmation. For the Boynton Beach family of Rodelson Normil, confirmation came on July 23, more than six years after their son disappeared beneath the waves a half-mile south of Gulfstream Park, and it came through the help of a 6-yearold boy and a hurricane. “We have some news on your son,” Sgt. John Passeggiata of the Gulf Stream Police Department told the teenager’s father that morning. “It’s not the news we would like, but I hope it will give you some closure.” For Passeggiata and his colleagues, that phone call was both confirmation and closure to a case that began at 2:47 p.m. on a cloudy Friday, May 31, 2013. A teenager wearing a black bathing suit over green and white boxer shorts had been caught in a riptide. Red warning flags had been flying all week, and Rodelson Normil, 17, a junior at Boynton Beach Community High School, was not a good swimmer. He’d promised his father he’d stay on the sand. But when his friends Zachary Wano, Senovain Stephens and Isaac Cruz hit the waves, he went in too. Wano told Passeggiata he’d seen Rodelson struggling and tried See DNA on page 12
Along the Coast
Lethal bronzing a growing threat to palms By Cheryl Blackerby It’s the worse-case scenario for homeowners who have invested in palm trees costing $5,000 to $10,000 each. The trees’ fronds are turning a bronze-brown and new fronds are curling up and dying. The arborist’s news is bad:
Inside Funk-fusion Bassist Bryan Beller plays Boca’s Funky Biscuit. Page AT9
The trees have a new disease that is terminal. In 2006, a relatively new deadly bacterial disease called lethal bronzing hit the Tampa area and quickly spread east, killing palm trees ranging from stately Canary Island date palms to the indomitable sabal palmetto palm, the state tree. It
Winding up on top
Local athletes making national, international names for themselves. Page AT1
Lethal bronzing is an incurable infection that causes palm fronds to turn brown and die. New growth also dies as a result. Photo provided
has become prevalent in Palm Beach County just in the past couple of years. Lethal bronzing, similar but genetically distinct from lethal yellowing, is now common on Florida’s east coast and is causing “significant palm losses in Palm Beach County,” See BRONZING on page 16
Nesting inspires optimism
It’s a good year for sea turtles, researchers say. Page 11
Old Key Lime memories
Family has 33 years at eatery. Page 22
Virgin wants Boca station
Rail stop would be downtown. Page 15