Lakeland has an estimate of how much it will cost to clean up its southwest sewage spill

Lakeland officials have gotten an estimate of what it will cost to clean up the source of the foul odor in Southwest Lakeland.

City commissioners unanimously approved spending $947,192 on Monday for Bartow-based A-C-T Environmental and Infrastructure to remove soil contaminated by a wastewater force main break in an undeveloped area north of the Carillon Lakes neighborhood.

A-C-T anticipates it will have to excavate and remove about 7,840 tons of dirt to clean up the city's wastewater spill, according to its June 21 estimate.

"This is unexpected and certainly we did not have this budgeted for..." Commissioner Stephanie Madden said. "We would not know about this if wasn't for our Carillon Lakes neighbors."

In early April, several residents of Carillon Lakes contacted city officials reporting a "sulfuric, natural gas-like odor" floating through the community at various times. Some reported smelling it a early as October 2023, becoming more consistent by March.

Repeated complaints caused the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to send drones into the area to conduct an aerial search. The drones found a possible force main break on a piece of vacant city-owned land, which was confirmed by Lakeland Wastewater Management Division on April 23.

The city found a 12-inch force main primarily used to serve the city's industrial customers ruptured near Gateway Boulevard and Whitten Road. The city initially estimated more than 1,000 gallons of untreated wastewater had been released into the wetlands, according to a Public Notice of Pollution filed with FDEP. "FDEP is requiring a wastewater cleanup effort," City Manager Shawn Sherrouse said Monday morning. "The city has been working with FDEP on cleanup and a sampling plan."

A-C-T has an continuing contract with the city to provide professional environmental, environmental risk and engineering services. So the city reached out to the company for a cost estimate on the removal of non-hazardous petroleum and septic waste-contaminated soil near the area of the break.

The company estimated it will have to remove the top two feet of soil from a roughly 75,000-square-foot area — that's roughly 1.72 acres. It's bigger than the size of a professional football field.

A-C-T said its costs will cover the excavation, transportation and appropriate disposal of the contaminated soil. Its report continues to state "an unknown volume of septic effluent" was released. The Bartow company will then backfill the area with topsoil to level the ground and compact it down.

Sherrouse said it's "imperative" this work begins as quickly as possible as Florida's rainy season gets underway, and heavy rain or flooding in the wetland areas could further delay or complicate the environmental cleanup.

A-C-T has promised that it will use hydrated lime in an effort to assist with odor control in the area while the environmental cleanup is underway. It estimates it will take 15 business days to excavate the area completely, then another 15 days to backfill it.

Sherrouse said the city has been in email contact with the Carillon Lakes Homeowners Association in addition to several individual residents as the efforts to remedy the situation continue.

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on X @SaraWalshFl.