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.