Wastewater spill causes resident to revisit Siesta wastewater issue

The Siesta Key wastewater facility has been an issue of contention for some island residents since the county announced it was extending the timeline for the facility’s decommission, but a recent controlled wastewater spill has one resident voicing concerns once again.

Lorie Tiernay reached out to the Siesta Key Association regarding her concerns that a wastewater spill caused the no-swim advisory that was issued on Sept. 1 during Hurricane Hermine.

According to Sarasota County Public Utilities division manager David Cash there was a controlled spill at the facility after wastewater tanks reached capacity. Cash said in order to avoid an uncontrolled raw sewage spill, county crews released partially processed wastewater.

According to Cash, wastewater facilities throughout the county, including the Siesta Key facility, struggled to cope with excess water throughout the storm. The county broadly alerted Sarasota County residents that facilities had reached capacity and advised residents to avoid stormwater because there was a possibility that the water could be tainted with partially treated wastewater.

However, the residents adjacent to the Siesta Key facility were not communicated with directly, which is what has Tiernay concerned.

“In the event of a spill, are we not entitled to some warning, if not legally, then morally?” Tiernay said.

She also suspects the spill may have contributed to beach closures, which were announced Sept. 1.

“The beaches were subsequently closed and a small little sign was placed in front of the canal directly in front of the facility,” Tiernay said. “No residents of the area were informed...no warnings given.”

County staff is not certain the controlled spill was related to Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County’s decision to close the beaches and said the the controlled release was typical given the heavy rainfalls throughout the area.

“This is not a circumstance that has not occurred before,” Cash said. “It is mainly due to excessive rainfall.”

Cash said the system quickly regained normal operating levels.

“Fortunately the system did return to normal fairly quickly,” Cash said. “Unfortunately we did have to initiate this procedure for this particular facility.”

However, for Tiernay the controlled spill reignites concerns regarding the decommission of the facility.

A contract for a project to replace the Siesta Key wastewater facility with a master pump that would transport 1.5 million gallons of wastewater per day to two mainland facilities was approved in 2010.

The facility was originally projected to be decommissioned by 2016.  However, in March, county staff said it would be late 2017 before the facility was even shut down and June 2018 before the project would be completed.

But as hurricane season continues, Tiernay hopes that the county is monitoring the Siesta Key wastewater facility.

“In light of this recent (flooding issue) and the fact that we are heading into what is supposed to be an increase in hurricane activity,” Tiernay said. “Shouldn’t the county be working 24/7 on this project or is the contingencies plan to just continue to dump into the canal when the inevitable flooding occurs again?”