Debby flooded Tampa Bay’s sewers, spilling millions of gallons of pollutants

Downpours from Tropical Storm Debby this week overwhelmed Tampa Bay’s sewer systems, sending millions of gallons of raw and partially treated sewage mixed with rainwater into streets, canals and natural waterways.

So many manholes in Clearwater were spewing sewage that city workers ran out of sewage trucks, forcing them to hold the contaminated water with sandbags until they could siphon it out, according to reports the city filed with the state.

“We had three or five trucks running 24 hours a day, trying to do as much as we could,” said Rich Gardner, Clearwater’s public services director, adding that the trucks were removing “a fraction” of the total contamination.

In total, local governments and housing developments in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee and Pasco counties reported more than 6.3 million gallons of spilled sewage in the three days Debby battered the region, according to a Tampa Bay Times analysis of reports filed with state environmental regulators and posted on city websites. Reporting delays mean that’s almost certainly a significant underestimate.

In the largest incident on record, about 3.5 million gallons of raw and partially treated sewage leaked from a treatment plant into the Manatee River in Bradenton starting Sunday, city pollution records show.

Much of the sewage spilled into regional waterways, contaminating streams, rivers, lakes, bayous and marshes. Thousands of gallons spilled into the Hillsborough River, Clearwater Harbor and, when a pumping station in Tampa failed, into drains leading to Old Tampa Bay.

Local officials said stormwater and sewer systems were not built to handle the sudden influx of water Debby caused. Rainfall records show that parts of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties received 10 to 14 inches of rain.

“When you have a storm like this … (the problems) aren’t limited to one municipality’s sewer system. It’s sewer systems throughout the region — because the rain was coming and there was nowhere for it to go,” said Bill Logan, a spokesman for Manatee County. “It was an extraordinary event.”

But environmentalists say it’s indefensible for a state accustomed to extreme weather to allow more spills. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of heavy rain storms. In the past two years alone, parts of Florida have experienced two “100-year” rain events: Debby and Hurricane Ian.

“These tropical events are not a surprise. They are no longer an excuse to be OK with not prioritizing investments that make our wastewater infrastructure fit for the number of people who are here,” said Justin Tramble, executive director of Tampa Bay Waterkeeper, a nonprofit advocating for clean water.

“Trash will continue to be dumped into our water supply — over and over again — until we as a community say we’ve had enough.”

Aging infrastructure is a “huge problem”

When Hurricane Ian made landfall in southwest Florida, two years ago, wastewater managers in the Tampa Bay area reported about 15 spills to the state in the first 72 hours. During the same time period for Tropical Storm Debby, more than 70 reports were filed, according to a Times analysis.

While Debby was struggling on Sunday off the coast of Tampa Bay, Rep. Lindsay Cross, a St. Petersburg Democrat and environmental scientist, posted a warning on social media.

“It’s raining and will continue to do so for some time,” Cross wrote. “Please avoid doing laundry, using dishwashers, or taking long showers. Our stormwater drainage systems will be working overtime and excessive water use could cause additional stress.”

Parts of the Cross district have been cut down more than a foot of rain in three days, weather records show. When the storm finally subsided earlier this week, the effects of at least one overwhelmed water system in Cross’ district became clear: At least 185,000 gallons of raw sewage leaked from the Northeast Water Reclamation plant in St. Petersburg as crews frantically tried to siphon waste from manholes to keep it from overflowing onto roads.

In all, about 81% of that sewage was dumped into a canal that drains into Smacks Bayou, a waterway that surrounds the Snell Isle neighborhood. That was enough to fill more than 3,500 bathtubs, according to a pollution notice filed with state environmental regulators.

“There’s a huge backlog of infrastructure projects that need to be funded in communities around Tampa Bay,” Cross told the Times. “Some of our pipes have been in the ground for decades.”

said the cross Aging stormwater infrastructure is a “huge problem” in Florida, which she filed earlier this year a bill that would identify wastewater treatment plants most in need of modernization, a measure that would create a priority list for funding. The bill did not receive a hearing.

St. Petersburg is no stranger to large-scale sewage spills. The city dumped at least 200 million gallons of waste between 2015 and 2016 in a sewage crisis that prompted intervention by state environmental regulators and left the city with a bill of more than $300 million to improve its waste system.

The amount of waste being dumped into waterways from Tropical Storm Debby is likely to fall far short of the volume dumped at the peak of the crisis. As of Thursday, more than 400,000 gallons had spilled, some of it ending up in a nearby stream and lake, according to an analysis.

Infrastructure repairs carried out since 2016 have prevented more than 8 According to a St. Petersburg city document, about a million gallons of water may have leaked during a recent storm.

In his first year as governor, Ron DeSantis proposed increasing fines for cities and counties that dump sewage into waterways. He signed such a bill that came into force four years ago.

It’s unclear, however, whether the state will fine Tampa Bay area governments for the Debby-related incidents. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection said in a statement that it evaluates each spill to determine whether violations occurred.

Dave Tomasko, executive director of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, a partnership of researchers and state and federal environmental agencies, said the most beneficial step local governments could take would be to line old sewer lines. That way, less stormwater seeps in and pours into treatment plants, overwhelming them.

State lawmakers approved $2.2 million to help Bradenton line its pipes for the cause. DeSantis vetoed the project in the budget.

The governor’s office did not respond to emails asking about the veto in light of the recent spill in Bradenton.

Impact on health and ecology

The Florida Department of Health has not conducted any water quality tests at Tampa Bay beaches this month, according to data from Thursday afternoon.

County and state health officials did not respond to emailed questions about the public health risks, but they issued a warning Thursday afternoon for Simmons Park Beach in Ruskin, where recent tests showed unsafe levels of fecal bacteria there, the Hillsborough County Health Department said.

Margaret Mars Brisbin, an assistant professor of biological oceanography in the University of South Florida’s Department of Marine Sciences, said she typically waits a few days after a major storm before returning to the beach at the Fort De Soto dog park with Ruby, her miniature Australian shepherd.

Brisbin said people should avoid water for at least a few days.

Most people associate sewage spills with common bacteria, such as E. coli or fecal coliform, she said, but there are other, lesser-known bacteria that get into water after a storm. Brisbin pointed to diarrhea-causing campylobacter and the vibrio group of bacteria that can harm human health.

It’s not just bacteria. Nutrient pollution that’s being dumped into Tampa Bay’s waters could be feeding existing harmful algae species, like the kind that causes red tide. Scientists will be watching this closely.

Pollution has already reduced oxygen levels so much in parts of Sarasota Bay that an estuary conservation program is predicting the extinction of small fish, clams and starfish.

Tampa Bay Waterkeeper Tramble said the water quality was questionable before the storm. Six days before Debby arrived, the nonprofit took routine water samples at 11 sites around Tampa Bay, from Rivercrest Park in Tampa to Fort DeSoto at the southern end of the bay. All showed high levels of fecal bacteria. The nonprofit’s team will head to the bay Monday to take more water quality samples.

The group evaluates existing wastewater treatment plants where repeated sewage spills occurred during storms, to better inform the public about repeat offenders.

“We should not be accepting millions of gallons of treated and untreated sewage going into the bay,” Tramble said. “At some point, enough is enough.”