CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Carpet-cleaning employee seen dumping dirty water down local public sanitary sewer

ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. — A local company is taking the blame after an employee was caught on camera dumping what appeared to be dirty, darker-colored water down a public sanitary sewer system.

Action News Jax learned from the Atlantic Beach City Manager that they’re working with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to open up an investigation.

“We’re always concerned if there’s anything being pumped or dumped into the storm line or to the sewer system because it’s not designed to take this sort of waste at that point,” St. Johns Riverkeeper Lisa Rinaman said.

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It happened Tuesday morning on Jackson Road, when Action News Jax learned about the video showing the employee from Creative MultiCare dumping the potentially toxic water down the manhole cover.

Another video a neighbor gave to Action News Jax shows the truck backing up right to the spot,and leaving around 10:15 a.m.

It’s something St. Johns Riverkeeper Lisa Rinaman says is not allowed as it harms infrastructure and waterbodies.

“Whether it’s a sewer to make sure it’s a sewer that human waste is being treated properly, or if it’s a storm drain, it can go directly into the intracoastal or the river,” she said. “So, we want to make sure nothing goes down that its not designed to treat, because there could be unintended consequences, it could have a system failure.”

The company sent Action News Jax a statement saying they regret the unfortunate and unacceptable incident.

“Our company, Creative MultiCare (”Creative”), is aware of a video that shows one of our carpet cleaning technicians discharging water into a sanitary sewer on a public street in Jacksonville earlier today, Tuesday, September 10, 2024.  Though this water generated from cleaning carpets is filtered to remove solid wastes, it is against company policy and procedures, and our technician’s training, to discharge it into sanitary sewers on public property.  The management of Creative regrets this unfortunate and unacceptable incident that occurred and will take appropriate action to ensure it does not happen again. Such action shall include, at a minimum, an immediate review and enhancement of our carpet cleaning training program and disciplinary measures for technicians who knowingly violate proper procedures,” a spokesperson said.

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Action News Jax reached out to FDEP about potential penalties the company could face. They acknowledged our request and deadline, but we’re waiting to hear back.

“If there’s chemicals being used, they don’t have a permit to discharge the chemicals not the system, there’s so many unknowns,” Rinaman said. “You have to have a permit to have these discharges.”

The company said the employee was only on his second day out of training and with his own cleaning van. They said the intention is to keep him and he’s subject to certain internal disciplinary measures. The company said they’ll also provide him with additional training on proper water discharge.

“The liquid is the water retained from steam cleaning carpets.  This water looks cloudy or dirty and though it is not potable, it is not considered hazardous.  This water can be disposed of in an interior toilet, sink, or drain, but more commonly we seek to discharge it directly into an outside entrance to the enclosed sanitary sewer system (usually a marked manhole or a drain) provided same is located on private property and the owner of the property, which is usually our customer, gives us permission to discharge it into the sanitary sewer.

Our company does not allow discharges (i) in any sanitary sewer system entrance, manhole, or drain which is located on public property (which includes public roads, streets, and highways), or (ii) in any storm sewer, wherever it is located (on public or private property).

In the instant case, our inexperienced technician erred by seeking to discharge into a sanitary sewer located on public property (on a public street), rather than one located on private property (with permission).  It is our understanding, the technician knew not to discharge into a storm sewer, but in the moment, he obviously failed to recognize or appreciate the difference (in terms of what is allowed under company policy/procedures) between discharging in a sanitary sewer located on public versus private property.”

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Rinaman said you’re not allowed to put anything down a manhole cover.

“Even if it was muddy water the sediments could cause problems, chemicals no telling what’s in the water that was discharged but it’s not allowed, you can’t just willy nilly take off a manhole cover and put anything down the system,” she said.

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