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Boil notices in Melbourne and Palm Bay, treated wastewater in the lagoon: how the record flood hit Brevard’s utilities
Melbourne’s whole water system and part of Palm Bay’s are under boil notices after main breaks, Titusville released treated reclaimed water into the Indian River Lagoon, and cities are asking residents to use less water.
As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3. Conditions are changing; check your utility for updates.
The rain that the National Weather Service called “a one in a 1,000-year event” also hit the systems that carry water into Brevard homes and wastewater away. On Tuesday morning, two cities had boil notices in place after water main breaks, Titusville had released treated wastewater into the Indian River Lagoon, and cities were asking residents to use less water.
Melbourne: the whole system
Melbourne put all of its water customers under a precautionary boil water notice Monday after a major water main break, Spectrum News 13 reported. That covers customers served through West Melbourne’s system, plus Indialantic, Indian Harbour Beach, Melbourne Beach, Melbourne Village, Palm Shores, Satellite Beach and unincorporated areas south of the Pineda Causeway that get a Melbourne water bill. Suntree and Viera are on Cocoa’s system and are not affected.
Palm Bay: break area grows
Palm Bay shut off water Monday to neighborhoods near Malabar Road and Port Malabar Boulevard after a main broke along Port Malabar Boulevard NE, and flooding kept crews from reaching it, Florida Today reported.
Early Tuesday, the city said the affected area “has been expanded to include additional customers,” as shown on an updated map. Some customers there have water and others don’t, but everyone inside the highlighted area is under the boil notice “regardless of whether their water service has been interrupted.” Flooding could delay repairs, and the notice stays until testing shows the water is safe and the city rescinds it, Florida Today reported. The city has not said how many customers are affected.
Titusville: treated water into the lagoon
At about 6:30 a.m. Monday, Titusville began a “controlled release of treated reclaimed water” from its Osprey Water Reclamation Facility into the lagoon near the plant. The city said flows from Osprey to its Blue Heron plant had reached full capacity and staff had used every other option. The release was meant to keep wastewater from backing up into homes, businesses and streets.
“The released water is not raw sewage,” the city said. It said the water had gone through the plant’s full treatment, including filtration and disinfection, and that it is notifying the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and doing required water-quality sampling. The release will continue as needed, WFTV reported. The city has not posted a volume or sampling results.
Cocoa Beach and use-less-water requests
At 5:28 a.m. Monday, Cocoa Beach said heavy rain had pushed its sewer lift stations to capacity and asked residents to limit water use. Titusville asked residents to hold off on nonessential use such as laundry, dishwashers and long showers. 321 Daily has not found a report of an untreated sewage overflow in the county.
What to know today
Boil notices: all City of Melbourne water customers, including the communities listed above; and Palm Bay customers inside the highlighted area of the city’s updated map for the Port Malabar Boulevard NE break, whether or not your water is running.
How to boil: bring water to a rolling boil for at least one minute before drinking, cooking, making ice, brushing teeth or washing dishes. Bottled water is fine instead. Keep boiling until your utility lifts the notice.
Use less water: skip nonessential laundry, dishwashers and long showers if you’re in Titusville or Cocoa Beach.
Titusville water reclamation questions: 321-567-3891.
Voting today
Polls are open until 7 p.m. Nine precincts have moved because of flooding: 307, 309, 512 and 525 to New Shiloh Christian Center, 3900 Sarno Road, Melbourne; 306, 323 and 509 to Joseph N. Davis Community Center, 2547 Bruce D. Buggs St., Melbourne; 320 to Franklin T. DeGroodt Memorial Library, 6475 Minton Road SE, Palm Bay; and 517 to Palm Bay City Hall Council Chambers, 120 Malabar Road SE. More changes are possible; check votebrevard.gov. Don’t drive through flooded roads to reach a polling place.
Based on city notices and published reports. 321 Daily did not seek comment for this story.
