Home > Environmental Law Home > Lawsuits > Sewage Contamination Jeopardizes Florida Aquifer and Drinking Water

Sierra Club Lawsuits

Sewage Contamination Jeopardizes Florida Aquifer and Drinking Water

Case Updates:

February 18, 2005

On February 17, 2005, the Club filed a lawsuit in federal court to protect Florida’s drinking water supply from sewage contamination because the Jeb Bush administration is refusing to enforce basic safe drinking water laws. For over ten years, partially treated sewage from the Miami-Dade’s sewage injection facility has been contaminating underground sources of drinking water. Rather than requiring Miami-Dade County to comply with the law, the state has actually allowed the County to increase the amount of sewage being pumped underground, which is currently over 112 million gallons of sewage a day underground. To make matters worse, the state is currently petitioning the federal government to be exempted from complying with the Safe Drinking Water Act's prohibition on sewage movement into drinking water sources. Our communities and their drinking water supplies deserve more protection from the harmful and dangerous contaminants that are present in sewage.

Details and Documents:

Sierra Club Asks State of Florida to Protect Drinking Water Supplies, Keep Sewage Out
February 17, 2005, Sierra Club Press Release

Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief
February 17, 2005, Complaint Filed in US District Court Northern District of Florida

Excerpts from Media Coverage

"Lawsuit claims water tainted, Sierra Club accuses state of ignoring law"
The News-Press, Tallahassee Bureau

"Their solution is to delay and deny there's a problem and agree to do more studies," Kristin Henry said. "It took them 10 years to get this far. And what are they saying? Give us five years. Well that's 15 years after they detected a problem. When are they going to fix the problem?'"
Miami Herald