Jacksonville councilman plans to close park covered in sludge after Irma

Ribault residents concerned playground, water potentially contaminated

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Charles Reese Park in the Ribault neighborhood on Jacksonville's Northside will be closed after complaints about sewer sludge following flooding caused by Hurricane Irma.

Neighbors called and emailed the newsroom, saying they are outraged because children have been playing in the sludge since floodwaters receded last week. 

News4Jax spoke with City Councilman Samuel Newby about the playground Tuesday while Newby was touring the flood damaged area for the first time. After News4Jax showed him photos of the sludge on and around the playground equipment, Newby said that he was having the park closed. 

"I’m surprised and I will be calling Parks and Recreation to get that parked closed because we can’t have our kids playing in stuff like that," Newby said.

But residents said closing the park is only part of the solution.

“We need that park clean, not just raked up. We need it clean," said Ribault resident Reo Cairwell. "It’s about the kids and so, if it has to be about the kids, we got to get that cleaned up because it’s the kids that be out there."

One section of Charles Reese Park is filled with sludge -- both on the ground and on the equipment. A closer inspection of the park equipment shows dried sewer sludge on the slide -- smeared all the way down. The concern is over the bacteria that could be in that sludge.

“There have been children playing in the park and they need to have some kind of awareness of what problems they could have playing in this contamination," said a man living across the street from the park, who wished to remain anonymous. "If it's contaminated and they scratch themselves on that sliding board and it gets infected, that's another problem."

The park isn’t the only concern when it comes to potential contamination. Many residents in the Ribault neighborhood are worried the water may be contaminated after Hurricane Irma caused flooding in the area.

RELATED: Jacksonville mayor goes door to door in Ribault to view Irma damage | Food, water delivered to flood victims in Jacksonville's Ribault neighborhood

On Ken Knight Drive, people have been using bottled water to drink and bathe. Residents told News4Jax Tuesday the water coming out of the faucet smells like sewer water and they don't trust it.

Their fears were further heightened due to signs warning people not to drink, swim or fish in the Ribault River, which runs parallel to the neighborhood. 

People have been flocking to a tent to receive cases of bottled water, and it’s not because water has stop flowing from the faucet.

“I’d rather wipe off before I get in that shower," Cairwell said.

A Ribault woman with multiple children, including a baby, also said she's not taking any chances.

“I haven’t been giving her faucet water because I don’t know how the water is," said the woman, who wished to not be named.

The Ribault River flooded into the area in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. Residents said they're concerned that floodwater mixed with sewer water that was backing up.

“I’m advising, as a registered nurse, to boil this water and to not wash these children in this water until we can get this water clean because this is an absolute hazard to their health," said Denise Hunt, with the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition.

A JEA spokeswoman told News4Jax the water and sewer system are separate, and the water coming out the faucet is safe to drink and bathe in. She also confirmed there was no order to boil water for the area. 

Despite that information from the city-owned utility, residents said, they still don't trust the water from the sink. 

"Do not wash your kids in that water. Do not let them drink it," Hunt said.

JEA reminded residents that the signs only refer to water in the river and not water coming from the faucet. 

There's also an effort to post more of the signs closers to the docks and river so people are aware of the health risks after multiple reports from neighbors who said they spotted people fishing in the river. 


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