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Sewage discharges continue from Bradenton Water Reclamation Plant into Manatee River

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Published  September 6, 2024 5:20pm EDT
Bradenton
FOX 13 News

Sewage discharges continue into Manatee River

Kimberly Kuizon reports

BRADENTON, Fla. - Just outside the Bradenton Riverwalk, there's a pipe that continues to release partially treated sewage from the Bradenton Water Reclamation Plant, and it's been going on for the past month.

The city said their system can't handle all the rain they've received, and releases won't stop until the downpours do. 

Just down the street from Darryl Libby’s Bradenton home, a discharge of sewage into the Manatee River continues. 

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"You smell it every day, especially on the hot days. It’s really terrible," he said. 

Libby said as the tide comes in, the sewage gets pushed behind his home into the canal. 

"My concern is people getting sick. I’ve called the mayor’s office a few times, and, of course, every time I call he’s in a meeting, he’s in a meeting. You can’t do anything," he said. 

Without a sign warning people of the release, Libby lets people know what’s happening. 

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"I’ve seen people down there fishing and I tell them ‘I hope you don’t catch any three-eyed fish and I hope you don’t take them home and eat them,’" he said. 

The City of Bradenton said the partially treated sewage comes from the Bradenton Water Reclamation Plant. 

"We estimate basically, over the course of the last 30 days with nearly 25 inches, a billion gallons of water comes down. We are probably in the order of 25 million gallons that have to be discharged and discriminated, because it can’t be processed through the plant," said City Administrator Rob Perry. 

The City of Bradenton is in the process of updating its system. 

"We put about $50 million into that plant over the course of the last five or six years, I don’t know if any plant in the state can handle four to five times what it is rated to treated over a prolonged period of time at those peak flows," said Perry. 

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Suncoast Waterkeeper Executive Director Abbey Tyrna said there are concerns for not only people, but the environment. 

"What is being discharged in this water that we need to be concerned about," said Tyrna. 

While updates are in the works, Suncoast Waterkeeper said they are still behind the curve. 

"It’s not like they don’t have the resources, but the infrastructure was so outdated, and then they had little staff that could actually deal with it. They have the political will and resources, it’s just a matter of time," said Tyrna. 

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