Millions of gallons of sewage pollute Bradenton-area waterways after Hurricane Debby

As Hurricane Debby drenched Southwest Florida with record-breaking rain Sunday, a slew of sewage spills polluted Manatee County waterways with millions of gallons of wastewater.

Bradenton’s wastewater plant sent at least 3.5 million gallons of water containing raw sewage into the Manatee River after Hurricane Debby overloaded the plant’s capacity, according to a pollution report posted to the city’s website.

Around 5 p.m. Sunday, an “extremely high flow” of wastewater surged into the plant, the report said. By 6:30 p.m., equipment had begun to overflow and plant managers started a bypass into the Manatee River.

As of Monday afternoon, the discharge reached 3.5 million gallons and was still ongoing, according to the spill report.

An earlier version of the report posted on Monday morning listed a spill of 8.5 million gallons, but it was revised down to 3.5 million gallons in an updated report posted Monday evening. An explanation for the adjustment was not provided.

Sewage spills are self-reported by municipalities.

The city’s report said sampling of the Manatee River for the environmental effects of the spill will begin “when it is safe to do so.”

Bradenton, Manatee report sewage spills

Other spills of large and unknown quantities happened at lift stations and wastewater plants around Bradenton and Manatee County during the storm.

Lift stations transport sewage and wastewater to municipal wastewater plants, and they can be overwhelmed by clogs, electrical problems or too much water.

Other spills reported by local governments during Hurricane Debby include:

• Bradenton reported an ongoing discharge of at least 250,000 gallons from a maintenance hole on 17th Avenue West after Lift Station No. 14 suffered a “hydraulic overload” on Sunday. Untreated wastewater spilled into Wares Creek and nearby storm drains, the report said.

• Manatee County reported that multiple sewage overflows of unknown sizes and durations began on Sunday in the county’s North, Southeast and Southwest service areas due to extreme rainfall. Some lift stations also failed due to power outages, the county’s reports said. Raw sewage “certainly entered waters of the state,” the reports said. Estimates of greater than 1,000 gallons were provided for all three regions, but the total amounts were unknown.
  
  

• Manatee County reported overflows of greater than 1,000 gallons of raw sewage onto the grounds of its Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant, 5101 65th St., W., Bradenton, on Sunday and Monday. “Due to flooding on the plant site, it is impossible to estimate how much of the partially treated wastewater left the site but the ultimate destination is Sarasota Bay,” the report said.

• Spills of greater than 1,000 gallons of raw or partially treated wastewater were also reported at the county’s Southeast Wastewater Treatment Plant, 3331 Lena Road, Bradenton, and its North Wastewater Treatment Plant, 8500 69th St. E., Palmetto.
  
  

Bradenton officials: storm blew past plant’s capacity

Bradenton City Administrator Rob Perry said the extreme flow of water during the storm left plant operators no choice but to discharge into the Manatee River.

“We had to make a strategic decision. Should we do a partial discharge and keep the plant running or put the plant in jeopardy of not being able to handle the capacity?” Perry said.

The city’s wastewater plant typically receives 7 to 9 million gallons of wastewater per day, and it’s rated to handle up to 17 million gallons. The tropical storm brought a flow of 27 million gallons into the plant, Perry said. Much of it was rainwater that infiltrated the city’s outdated sewer system.

Perry said without the discharge, the plant would have likely overflowed and sewage would have still wound up escaping into local roads and storm drains.

“It’s important to recognize that everyone that runs a wastewater treatment plant had a discharge (during the storm),” Perry said. “They’re characterizing it as a 100-year storm event. There’s nowhere for all the water to go.”

Perry also defended the city’s transparency with the volume of its spills, noting that many municipalities don’t disclose or provide an estimate of how big their spills are.

Perry said city crews inspected lift stations ahead of the hurricane. But the volume of water was still too much for the sewer system in some cases, he said.

“It has no choice but to back up from the manhole,” Perry said.

Perry acknowledged that the city’s frequent sewage spills are bad news for the environment and frustrating for residents.

“That’s why you see over $30 million in improvements being done at the plant as well as lift station repairs and capital improvements,” Perry said.

Bradenton plant regularly pollutes Manatee River

Spills at Bradenton’s wastewater facility at 1810 First Street West don’t only occur in tropical storms. The facility often experiences issues after typical Florida rains.

Earlier this year, the Bradenton Herald reported that staffing shortages and lack of experience were also leading to sewage spills on the plant grounds and discharges into the Manatee River.

The facility’s history of severe sewage spills prompted a lawsuit from environmental groups in January 2022.

In a settlement, the city agreed to improve its infrastructure to stop the sewage spills. City officials have promised that fixes are on the way over the next several years.

But in the meantime, pollution from the plant remains a frequent occurrence that troubles residents and water quality advocates.

‘This has gone too far,’ Bradenton resident says

Alex Conyers is a Bradenton native who lives in a longtime family home on 29th Street Northwest in the Fogartyville neighborhood along the Manatee River. The sewage spills during the storm brought wastewater right into his yard.

“We’ve never really seen anything quite like this,” Conyers said. “I had toilet paper floating in my front yard. There is toilet paper and human excrement going right into the river. I’m scared to let my kids go play.”

Conyers shared video with the Bradenton Herald of wastewater bubbling out of a maintenance hole and toward the Manatee River.

Conyers said he is sick of seeing the Manatee River polluted by wastewater spills.

“The issue has gotten worse. I was a commercial fisherman and charter captain for 23 years until I couldn’t handle the water quality issues anymore. It was too aggravating for me,” Conyers said. “This has gone too far. Why am I even paying a sewer bill if they’re just dumping it in the river? It’s disgusting.”

He said calls to the city were not returned.

Spills need to stop, Waterkeepers say

Abbey Tyrna, Executive Director of Suncoast Waterkeeper, said that the state and municipalities need to be doing more to prepare for a future of extreme weather and climate change.

“Florida’s wastewater technology is alarmingly unprepared for the increasingly frequent extreme weather events,” Tyrna said in an email. “The recent tropical storm with torrential rainfall is not an isolated incident; we’ve seen the devastating aftermath of Hurricanes Ian and Idalia, which led to massive amounts of sewage entering our surface waters.”

“The pressing question is: how are state and local governments preparing wastewater infrastructure for the next extreme weather event? The state should collaborate with local governments to elevate infrastructure, create additional storage, ensure adequate backup power at lift stations, innovate filtration technology, and reduce inflow and infiltration.”

As of Wednesday evening, reports of sewage spilled in the Hurricane Debby aftermath continued to roll in from around Southwest Florida and the Tampa Bay area.