Christmas Eve stunk after wastewater spill in East Manatee

A blockage in a force main caused thousands of gallons of untreated wastewater to spill, and officials are still determining whether it affected any local waterways.

On Christmas Eve around 9 p.m., the blockage lead to high water levels at an east county lift station, located at 3331 Lena Road, according to a pollution report submitted to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

An estimated 50,000 gallons of untreated wastewater was then forced through a manhole at the intersection of State Road 64 and 117th Street East, just east of the Il Villaggio community.

Four trucks were used to maintain the lift station’s water levels and the discharge was stopped about an hour later. While a hydrant was used to dilute the wastewater, an unknown amount of wastewater went through the storm drains and an investigation will be conducted to figure out what surface waters were affected.

The system that required pollution notification to be filed to FDEP was signed into law in June and went into effect the following month. Since then, 20 spills have been reported in Manatee County.

Fuel spills amounting to 501 gallons and 2,000 gallons of waste activated sludge were reported over the last five months, but untreated wastewater spills made up the bulk of the pollution with more than 3.5 million gallons spilled.

While the majority of the wastewater spills were said to either have gone into onsite stormwater drainage systems or not affected local waterways, the bulk of the reported spills was related to one event. Earlier this month, a force main on Cortez Road West was broken in the process of repairing it, leading to an estimated 3 million gallons of untreated wastewater to be discharged, some of which was spilled into Palma Sola Bay.

Most recently, officials lifted the swimming ban at the bay, except for the southeastern portion including Palma Sola Creek.

This story was originally published December 26, 2017 at 11:23 AM with the headline "Christmas Eve stunk after wastewater spill in East Manatee."