‘Vacuum cleaners’ may suck pollution from Miami River tributary

Wagner Creek, one of Florida’s most polluted waterways, could soon see a fleet of vacuum-like cleaning devices deployed to pull contamination from the water and keep it from flowing into the Miami River.

Miami commissioners on April 9 reviewed a proposal from Fast Cleaning Solutions to install additional water-cleaning and monitoring devices in Wagner Creek, building on a yearlong trial period that officials say reduced bacterial contamination by over 75%. The plan would add nine cleaning devices and three monitoring units for $360,000 over one year.

“About 15 years ago, Florida declared that one of the five tributaries of the Miami River, namely the Wagner Creek/Seybold Canal … was the most contaminated body of water in the entire state,” said Horacio Stuart Aguirre, chair of the Miami River Commission. He explained the that pollution does not originate within the river system itself but “somewhere northwest of 20th Street” and is primarily human fecal contamination. “Unfortunately, because some of Wagner is very shallow, very narrow and quite crowded, the extraordinary cleanup vessel that we call the Scavenger, the red boat that’s up and down the coast of Biscayne Bay and all the other waterways, can’t navigate it.”

The creek’s physical constraints forced officials to rethink cleanup strategies.

“If we could find remote operated vessels … then we could clean up some of the contamination, make it manageable and help the situation before it spreads into the Miami River. And that’s what we’re proposing today,” Mr. Aguirre said, comparing the devices to “little vacuum cleaners, those round things that all of us have in our homes that go underneath chairs and tables and counters.”

Brett Bibeau, managing director of the Miami River Commission, said Wagner Creek has repeatedly shown extreme bacteria levels through monthly testing by Miami-Dade County’s Department of Environmental Resources Management. He said state standards set safe bacteria levels at 130 units, while readings in the creek have reached 24,196, the maximum level on the testing scale, in multiple months across 2024 and 2025.

Mr. Bibeau said Fast Cleaning Solutions operated a bacterial water treatment device in Wagner Creek free of charge for one year, from April 2024 through March 2025. “E. coli bacteria reduced by 82% while the enterococci bacteria reduced by 76%,” he said, referencing comparisons between pre- and post-deployment data.

The device, known as a bacterial managed water cleaning machine, oxygenates water using ionized air and filtration designed to reduce bacterial contamination while also providing real-time monitoring across multiple water quality indicators. Officials said the devices are intended for narrow waterways like Wagner Creek that cannot accommodate larger cleanup vessels already used on the Miami River and Biscayne Bay.

Under the proposal, Fast Cleaning Solutions would expand deployment to 12 total units, including nine cleaning devices and three monitoring systems, for $360,000 over one year.

City Manager James Reyes said the city is evaluating the proposal and will meet with the company to discuss the terms and potential procurement options before moving forward.