Updated Aug. 13, 2024
ANNA MARIA – On Friday, Aug. 9, Mayor Dan Murphy issued a press release disputing a Foxweather.com news report alleging that a Tropical Storm Debby-related sewage spill in Bradenton was significantly impacting the water quality in and around Anna Maria.
In part, the press release said, “On Tuesday, Aug. 6, an online weather reporter Foxweather.com, not local Fox 13 news, ran a story captioned ‘Conditions worsen after Debby as contaminated water floods Florida community.’ The story featured video footage of the city of Anna Maria during and after the storm peak, along with an interview of ‘Anna Maria Island resident Ernie Vanderwalt.’ The overall impression left by this false story was that the waters surrounding our city were not safe due to toxic levels from the sewerage spill in Bradenton. As a result, Anna Maria City Hall and other agencies were inundated with phone calls concerning our water quality and the safety threats alleged by this story.”
The city’s press release noted that the news story did not indicate that Vanderwalt had any qualifications in the field of environmental science or health.
“At the time and date the story ran, the waters on Anna Maria Island had not been tested by governmental agencies for toxins. Subsequent testing of our waters by the health department on Aug. 7 revealed satisfactory water quality results,” according to the city’s press release. “Our objection to this story was escalated by local Fox affiliate Fox 13 news to Fox corporate headquarters in New York. On Aug. 8, Foxweather.com Vice-President of Broadcasting Tony DeBerry contacted this office and stated that the report had been ‘pulled down’ and offered an opportunity for our city to rebut the story. We have declined that offer, not wishing to draw further attention to what we deem to be an example of ‘fake news’ by Foxweather.com. As of this writing, the waters of the city of Anna Maria continue to be safe for swimming and other recreational activities.”
When contacted by The Sun later that day, Vanderwalt said he’s not an Anna Maria resident but he owns a home in Bradenton and splits his time between there and his other home in North Carolina.
After learning of the mayor’s press release and receiving a copy, Vanderwalt emailed the mayor his response.
“I have no desire to be adversarial, as not only do we love Anna Maria Island, but as taxpayers in Manatee County desire to see this area grow responsibly. I find your press release misleading to say the least,” he wrote.
Among other things, Vanderwalt suggested the city could have utilized social media platforms to inform residents of any potential water contamination and other storm-related issues.
He also sent his email response to several other Island, county and state officials.
When speaking to The Sun, Vanderwalt referenced reportable event notifications posted at the city of Bradenton’s website.
According to the Aug. 4 report, a water reclamation facility on First Street West in Bradenton experienced extremely high water flow that caused aerators, headworks, clarifiers and filters to overflow and water bypass began. According to the Aug. 4 report, 3.5 million gallons of partially treated or raw wastewater was discharged and not contained.
According to the Aug. 5 report, an additional 250,000 gallons of wastewater was also discharged.
Additional discharge
Later the city of Bradenton’s Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) reported discharging an estimated 25 million gallons of reclaimed water.
According to the city of Bradenton’s “5-Day Written Reporting for Noncompliance which endangers health or environment” report on the discharge from Bradenton’s Water Reclamation Facility, “It’s estimated that the total volume by-passed from 08/04 – 08/07 was 25MG.”
When contacted by The Sun on Aug. 12, Suncoast Waterkeeper board member and attorney Justin Bloom said, “According to the city’s own records, in which they’re reporting sewage spills to FDEP (the Florida Department of Environmental Protection), they discharged, directly to the Manatee River, 25 million gallons of sewage between Aug. 4th and Aug. 7th. Suncoast Waterkeeper is concerned about the impact this significant amount of sewage will have on the Manatee River.”
The mouth of the Manatee River flows into Tampa Bay at Anna Maria Island’s north end.
The city of Bradenton’s five-day report also contains the following information:
- “On 08/04 the aerators were taken offline at 2 p.m. in anticipation of high flow.
- On 08/04 the WRF experienced extremely high flow into the plant beginning around 17:00, by 18:30 the aerators, headworks, clarifiers and filters began overflowing and by-pass began.
- For the safety of the operators no permit samples were collected on 08/05, samples will be collected on 08/10.
- On 08/05, due to continual heavy rain a sludge hauling truck began leaking onto the plant driveway, eventually getting to the storm drain. Plant staff sandbagged around and at 13:00, cleaned up the sludge.
- On 08/05, the WRF by-passed the filters and wet well due to continual heavy rain and high flow.
- Manatee River spill sample collection began on 08/06.
- On 08/06, the plant experienced random high flow events causing the outfall and clear well to overflow.
- Operators were unable to set the compositor on 08/05 due to continual heavy rain; no composite samples were collected on 08/06. A set of composite samples will be collected on 08/11.
- On 08/08 two aerators were turned back online.”
The five-day report notes: “Due to the aerators being taken offline the micro population died causing the mixed liquor to not settle and the filters to clog. It is anticipated there will be unusual analytical results as a result of the hurricane. Sample collection is ongoing, preliminary results from 08/06 have been received but no official laboratory report has been. The city will continue to update FDEP as data is received and upon the conclusion of sampling.”
In conclusion, the report says, “The event was caused by the heavy rain and high flow associated with Hurricane Debby and was unavoidable. As with utilities state-wide the WRF staff did everything possible to not have to by-pass but with between 17-19 inches of rain during the storm it was unavoidable.”
