Sewage spill may mean more fines

Ernest Illes was preparing to leave for work one morning two weeks ago when he felt the ground under his house in Old Seminole Heights shake - several times.

He went outside and saw a towering geyser of raw sewage spewing from the ground.

"It was higher than my house," Illes said. "And the smell was beyond overwhelming."

The sewage discharge was one of a number of discharges Nov. 5 that occurred when a burst of pressure inside a newly installed $23 million wastewater pipeline broke through at least six air release valves, flooding the neighborhood with nearly 75,000 gallons of effluent.

Tampa officials attribute the spill to faulty equipment at the Sulphur Springs Pumping Station and said most of the sewage was recovered. However, about 5,000 gallons is thought to have seeped into the ground or flowed into stormwater retention ponds.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is investigating the spill, and the city could face fines for the discharge, agency spokesman Doug Tobin said.

According to a report submitted by the city to state and county environmental regulators, the spill occurred shortly after 9 a.m. when a malfunctioning pump caused a massive pressure increase in the new 12th Street pipeline, which carries untreated sewage from the Sulphur Springs station to the city's wastewater treatment plant on Hooker Point.

The blast of pressure broke six aging air release valves along the length of the new pipe, the report stated, forcing tens of thousands of gallons of raw sewage into the streets from East Hanna Avenue in Old Seminole Heights down to East Chelsea Street.

Sandbags were used to contain the spill, and vacuum trucks were brought in to recover the sewage, according to the city's report. The affected streets were disinfected.

The spill took city workers about five hours to contain, the report said.

"They had it cleaned up pretty quickly," Illes said. "I'll give them credit for that."

Tampa officials said there is nothing wrong with the new pipeline but that some valves and pumps at the Sulphur Springs station are deteriorating.

"There's some older equipment that still needs replacing," said Ralph Metcalf, director of the city's wastewater department. "We've been focusing on fixing the big things."

Metcalf said the faulty equipment that caused the spill has been replaced, but other parts that need to be fixed will likely have to wait until the city can afford it.

"It's very expensive," he said. "And we tend not to fix these things until they wear out."

Residents who live near the Sulphur Springs Pumping Station, which is off East River Cove between 12th and 13th streets, have dealt with sewage spills for years.

Tampa is under a consent order from the Department of Environmental Protection and Hillsborough County's Environmental Protection Commission because of spills into the Hillsborough River and residential neighborhoods, including South Tampa and Sulphur Springs, since 2002.

As part of the settlement, city officials promised to improve Tampa's aging sewer system and agreed to pay fines for unpermitted sewage releases, ranging from $500 to $10,000 a day depending on the amount of sewage.

In the past year alone, DEP has fined the city $66,000 for sewage spills.