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.