Sewage smell alarms LaBelle resident after massive spill near her home

LABELLE, Fla. (WINK) — Nearly 450,000 gallons of untreated sewage spilled into a drainage ditch that feeds into the Caloosahatchee River after a four-inch break on a water main at the LaBelle Water Treatment Plant.

Bessie Gregory, who lives less than a mile from the plant, first noticed something was wrong when a putrid smell began coming from the creek in her backyard. Much of the sewage ended up in her yard.

"It was an awful smell that I was getting," Gregory said. "We could smell it while we (were) sitting in the yard and and come up in the house."

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Gregory reported the spill, prompting city crews to respond. She expressed concern about the health hazards posed by the sewage.

"You have to worry about your health, and that's a hazard for what I smell," Gregory said. "And when the guy got here, he's like, 'Whoa, that is awful.' So yeah, it was it was terrible. Of course, I'm concerned by hazardous (waste)."

Any spill greater than 1,000 gallons must be reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. State records show the city used vacuum and pump trucks to clean up the mess and is sampling both upstream and downstream.

WINK Investigates reporter Ryan Kruger asked Gregory if she had ever experienced anything like this before. She said no, noting that while she occasionally smells odors from a nearby lift station, nothing compared to this spill.

The city says the repairs have been completed, and the wastewater system is back to working correctly. Gregory told Kruger that after city crews got to work, the mess was quickly cleaned up.