HB 2077 (2021), South Broward Drainage District (SBDD)-High Capacity, Mobile Stormwater Pumps, sponsored by Representative Robin Bartleman (D-Weston), appropriated $150,000 to allow SBDD to purchase two (2) high-capacity, mobile stormwater pumps. These pumps arrived today at the SBDD site. The impressive equipment is a portable pump rig attached to a trailer with wheels, with intake and discharge lines to pump water from a flooded location. The pumps are capable of pumping up to 15,000 gallons of water per minute. The technology will be utilized during emergency situations, such as the aftermath of tropical storms or hurricanes, to lower flood waters in critical areas and to reduce the duration of flooding throughout SBDD. SBDD’s jurisdictional area covers 73 square miles and includes portions of five (5) municipalities in southwest Broward County: Southwest Ranches, Pembroke Pines, Davie, Miramar and Hollywood. The pumps are portable and can be transported to any part of the district.
“After Tropical Storm Eta, where SBDD received over 18 inches of rainfall in a 48-hour period, residents were stuck in their homes due to flooding,” said Representative Robin Bartleman. “I wanted to find a way to help ensure that this did not happen again. These water pumps are game changers for the SBDD and the people it serves.”
Kevin Hart, South Broward Drainage District Director, reports, “These pumps will provide SBDD with another important tool in helping to protect homes and properties from flooding during major rainfall events, and the District is extremely grateful to Representative Bartleman for helping to secure funding for these high-capacity, mobile stormwater pumps.”
Whether it be in advance of, during, or after a major rain event, this apparatus provides an increased level of service for drainage and flood protection for a wide swath of southern Broward County. The units will reduce road closures; reduce the amount of times that businesses might be closed; reduce potential sewage overflows, allowing residents to use their bathrooms without any interruptions or overflows; reduce the potential for infiltration of contaminated flood waters into the groundwater; and reduce the potential for polluted runoff from entering into adjacent surface waters.
