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Answers Sought On Sweetwater Creek Sewage Spills

News Channel 8 photo by JOHN WINTERROWD

The busted sewer line left a large hole near Comanche Avenue on Sunday morning.

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By MIKE SALINERO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 13, 2008

Updated: 10/13/2008 02:50 pm

TAMPA - For the second time in a month, a relatively new stretch of sewer pipe broke, dumping 300,000 gallons of raw sewage into a creek in the Town 'N Country area.

Water department officials will try to figure out today why leaks occurred twice Sunday in the 20-inch pipe along Comanche Avenue just east of Hanley Road.

"We don't know why, but you can bet some heads are going to be put together this morning to try to figure it out," said Michelle Van Dyke, spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County Water Resources Department.

About 4 a.m. Sunday, water department operators found an 18-foot-long section of pipe split "end to end," Van Dyke said. While they were replacing that section, they noticed sewage pooling around a seal connecting a pipe and valve about 100 yards from the original break.

Water department operators found the break Sunday when they noticed a decrease in normal flows at the River Oaks Wastewater Treatment Plant. The leaking sewage spilled into Sweetwater Creek, which flows south to Old Tampa Bay near the Courtney Campbell Parkway.

Residents along the creek are urged to avoid contact with the creek or where it flows into Tampa Bay for several days.

Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.

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