18M Gallons Of Wastewater Discharged Into Creek: Clearwater Officials

CLEARWATER, FL — Since Tropical Storm Debby’s brush with Florida’s west coast in August, the Marshall Street Water Reclamation Facility, 1605 Harbor Drive, has discharged 18.12 million gallons of partially treated wastewater into local waterways, Clearwater officials said.

Between Aug. 22-29, the wastewater was bypassed from the facility into Stevenson Creek and storm sites on premise.

The wastewater bypassed tertiary treatment via sand filters, which is one of the last stages of wastewater treatment, officials said.

At one point the backwash system controls failed due to the high number of backwashes and overflowed onto the site.

Crews had to stop feeding reclaimed water into the system from the Marshall Street plant, but the Northeast Water Reclamation Facility remained online the entire time, the city said.

Clearwater reclaimed water customers continued to have reclaimed water service but might have experienced low water pressure during the timeframe.

The preliminary cost of mitigation is unknown at this time but includes Stevenson Creek microbial sampling, vactor truck operations, costs of chemicals and polymers, and employee overtime.

There hasn’t been any discharge since Aug. 30.