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Orlando Suárez, a 53-year-old Cuban, appeared this Wednesday before a Miami-Dade court accused of deliberately causing pollution on his five-acre property in the agricultural area of Redland, in the southwestern part of the county, authorities reported.
Agents from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office (MDSO) arrested Suárez on Tuesday afternoon at his property located at 19201 SW 180 Street, on charges of contaminating the area's groundwater with harmful bacteria, including Escherichia coli and total coliforms, a report from Local 10 News revealed.
According to the arrest report, Suárez's property was not connected to the sewage system and lacked an authorized septic system.
On the premises, the accused had a mechanical area for commercial vehicles and there were six recreational vehicles used as residences, which were connected by makeshift pipes that served as a sewage line throughout the property, discharging wastewater directly onto the ground.
As a result, "the property caused contamination at the groundwater level in the area and harmed drinking water by contaminating it with harmful bacteria," noted the MDSO report.
Laboratory tests confirmed the seriousness of the issue. "The results from the laboratory samples of the septic tank indicated the presence of untreated wastewater (...) The drinking water also contained total coliforms and E. coli", the document specified.
The researchers also found several barrels on the property for burning trash, “which appeared to be used for disposing of and incinerating waste.”
After his arrest, Suárez was detained at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (TGK) and is facing a charge for third-degree felony for willful negligence toward the environment. The judge set his bail at $2,500.
"Redlands is a historic agricultural community that is an important part not only of the Miami-Dade County ecosystem but also a vital agricultural hub that supplies food to the world," explains the arrest report. "As a rural area, it relies almost exclusively on groundwater and well water, not only for crop irrigation but also for human consumption."
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