Palmetto neighborhood has history of wastewater spills. Dorian could make it worse

Days after heavy rains fell and caused multiple sanitary sewer spills throughout the county, a group of neighbors approached Palmetto officials with their frustrations about what they said are ongoing spill issues in their community.

When 25th Avenue West in front of her family’s Palmetto home flooded with sewage after a heavy rain in 2013, Alice McClary said she was told she would need to replace pipes at her own expense.

She also said city officials told her at the time — as a mother with a potty-training toddler — that they should not flush the toilet until the tide went out. Once she claimed she was told to take her children to a nearby store to use the bathroom.

McClary said she complained to city about the sanitary sewage spill problem again in 2018. She stood in front of Palmetto commissioners Monday and said the issue is a health hazard for children, the city and the local environment.

There is a heightened risk of more flooding this week, as Hurricane Dorian takes aim at Florida. Where Dorian is exactly heading is uncertain, but forecasters are already calling for heavy thunderstorms in the area during the Labor Day weekend.

At Monday’s city commission meeting, A few other residents joined McClary in expressing frustration with the overflow issues. From the smell, to the flooding, it’s been as source of frustration.

“This is not new. I stood here 10 years ago and said the same things,” said Lynn Meier, who lives on 20th Avenue West.

Meier worries she won’t be able to sell her house because of the smell from the sewage spills. She called on the city to stop allowing new connections into an already overloaded system.

“Our canals are not your private dumping grounds,” said Lisa Potter, concerned that the spills are flowing into the nearby canals.

Spills in the area came to light again after days of heavy rains in mid-August caused wastewater systems throughout Manatee County to spill into the streets.

A series of manholes on 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th and possibly 26th avenues west in Palmetto — where Monday’s speakers live —are at about the same elevation, said Allen Tusing, the city’s public works director.

When the wastewater treatment plant gets to capacity, the system cannot push the water through any faster without sacrificing water quality. So the water levels rise and overflow into the streets.

So much rain fell, the treatment plant could not take on all the water. What it did take in, it treated to meet Advanced Wastewater Treatment standards, set by state statute, according to Tusing. However, he acknowledged because the plant could not take on all that water — and what it couldn’t take on, it couldn’t treat — some of the untreated water spilled out.

The water coming out of the manholes is what’s not making it to the plant. Tusing said that water he estimates is between 20 and 33 percent raw sewage, diluted with rainwater.

For 20th Street West resident Sergio Villet, the spills are less of a problem than for others on his street. The manhole that his neighbors talked about at the city commission meeting is further down the street from his house, which he can also easily access from another road.

“I know that they tried working on some things in the last couple of years to deal with flooding in other parts of Palmetto. And it sort of worked, but it just sent the water somewhere else because, again, the water has to go somewhere else,” Villet said.

However, he noted the city has had to close the street due to flooding in the past. When the street does flood, crews are quick to arrive and address the problem.

Villet said he knows there is worse flooding in other communities in Manatee County.

‘There is no silver bullet’

The city’s $4.4 million equalization basin should be up and operational by this time next year, Tusing said, but it’s not the perfect fix. The basin’s job will be to eliminate the peaks and lows of the water in the system, allowing it to run consistently throughout the day, reducing the strain on pumps and blowers.

Tusing doesn’t think a new pump station in the area would fix the problem, either. Running all three pumps at the existing station is not an option because it would overload the system so they have to alternate.

“The city does not like this any more than (the residents) like it and we’re doing everything we can to try to resolve these issues. It didn’t get here overnight it takes a little while and lot of money to repair,” Tusing told the Bradenton Herald by phone Tuesday.

Tusing told commissioners they should continue fixing the infrastructure throughout the city to ease the stress on the system as a whole.

“There is no silver bullet. You’ve got to do it all, You can’t just do ... the equalization basin. If you don’t do it all, you’re going to fail,” Tusing said.

Over the past several years, crews have been working to replace pipes but this process takes time and money, Tusing said.

Most of the pipes in the area brought up at Monday’s meeting have been relined, Tusing said, but the problem could be coming from another part of town.

“Every little thing we’re doing helps but we’ve got to continue to do more,” commissioner Jonathan Davis said.

The Public Works department had a rate study done and asked city commissioners for approval to increase customer’s rates over 10 years in order to keep up with the cost of running the facilities. Commissioners Monday approved the rate increase 4-1, with Harold Smith dissenting due to concerns about the decade-long span of the increases.

A condition was added that allows commissioners to review the rate increase each year and make a decision on whether to implement the scheduled increase.

“As long as you’re collecting fees, there’s always money to put in the (Capital Improvement Plan) to continue doing work,” Tusing said. “We’re doing OK for the operating side but we don’t have very much money in this year’s surplus to do (inflow and infiltration work).”

They are also dealing with backyards that are adjacent to easements, which are usually in low spots, and some residents opening cleanouts in their yards to keep the property dry. That just adds even more water to the system. Tusing suggested commissioners look at creating a city ordinance that could fine those who use cleanouts for these purposes.

Commissioners will continue discussions on the spills and possible solutions in a Sept. 23 workshop meeting.

Though the spills are still a concern, Tusing said they have come a long way in improvements. Based on photos from 2003 a resident provided city commissioners Monday showed water spurting from a manhole, Tusing noted the spills are no longer that bad.

But with more rain a possibility depending on what Hurricane Dorian brings, Tusing is hoping the storm takes a turn and stays away from Florida.

“If it goes in spurts we can handle that a little better, but it’s harder when it never stops,” he said.

This story was originally published August 28, 2019 at 3:10 PM.