The Public Works Department provides prompt service to the residents of the City of Sunny Isles Beach in the areas of construction, fleet maintenance, street maintenance, including stormwater maintenance services within the City’s rights of way, facilities maintenance, and engineering. These services seek to enhance the high quality of life for the City’s residents, businesses and visitors by providing well planned, environmentally sensitive, cost effective methods to promote public health, personal safety, transportation, economic growth and civic vitality.
Visitors from around the world come here to enjoy the weather, our beautiful beaches and the ocean. Our guests, much like our residents enjoy swimming in the ocean. But no one wants to swim in polluted water. And polluting our water is against the law.
STORM DRAINS
Rain water makes everything fresh and clean including our streets. And after a heavy rain, stormwater in our streets rushes into storm drains. These storm drains are important in providing a place for stormwater to go and help prevent our streets from flooding. But it isn’t only rain water that rushes into storm drains.
In urban areas, like Sunny Isles Beach, stormwater carries with it everything from our modern, urban lives, including cigarette butts, litter, lawn chemicals, pet waste, grease and motor oil. Everything that goes into storm drains impacts our ocean, and canals.
For the most part, the water entering storm drains, unlike water entering sanitary sewers, does not get treated before entering Biscayne Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean.
IMPACT OF STORMWATER POLLUTION
Polluted stormwater draining into our waterways is harmful to plants and animals. Litter injures unsuspecting sea life like fish, turtles, and manatees. There are three main types of stormwater pollutants as follows:
Litter: cans, paper and plastic bags and cigarette butts.
Chemicals: detergents, automotive fluids and fertilizers.
Organic waste: leaves, lawn and garden clippings and animal excrement.
The employees of the Department of Public Works are dedicated to keeping our City clean. Litter pickup is performed to keep the storm drains clear and promote a neat appearance throughout the City.
To report problems with litter call Public Works at (305) 792-1711.
