Acreage sewage problem nearly flushed

ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. - UPDATE: The Palm Beach County Health Department says Only two homes in the affected area are on wells and they are boiling water as a precaution.

The health department says most of the homes in the affected area are on county water lines and not impacted by the spill.

EARLIER STORY:

 It has been more than a day since the sewage started flowing on 40th street in The Acreage, and the smell is still overpowering.

"We kept everything shut today, we kept all the windows shut," said Acreage resident Mary Himmelheber.

Cleanup crews have pumped out most of the cloudy brown liquid.
"They are trying to do what they can with what they have, when they first started they had one truck, then by 7 or 8 o'clock they had 7 to 8 trucks," said Jose Ruiz, who lives on 40th Street, near where the pipe burst.

The dirty water came feet away from Jose Ruiz's house, leaving him stuck.

"The further you went from my house, they just had it in the swales, but I had it in the whole yard," said Ruiz.

Those same swales, full to the brim Saturday, are now empty.
Cleanup crews sprinkled a lime and calcium powder to kill remaining bacteria.

"They've been out here all night, the response has been really, really good," said Himmelheber.

County officials put up signs warning residents to avoid any contact with the water.

"We took quick showers, because the system we have still has some reserves, but we are using it very sparingly now," said Himmelheber.

"Today, tomorrow, I don't know if its contaminated, but maybe in a week or two, I don't know," said Ruiz.

County officials said they will be back in the neighborhood Monday.
They will conduct their second round of tests to make sure the water is safe.

Results for the first round will not be in until Tuesday.