Lift stations without power, broken water lines, low pressure are the main challenges.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: October 11, 2024
Host: Hurricanes bring a lot of water – but they also shut down water service, by overwhelming the system with same. Our news team has the latest on water and power troubles.
Sarasota County lift station after a previous weather event this summer.
Johannes Werner: The most severe restrictions happened in Venice. The city shut down water service on Wednesday, as Milton was approaching, to avoid overwhelming the water treatment plant. Water is back on now, but people should not drink it. A boil water notice is in effect until samples can be tested and cleared. Venice customers are also asked to limit water usage to prevent wastewater overflows.
Speaking of wastewater, Sarasota County Utilities Director Brooke Bailey says the first priority right now are the county’s about 800 lift stations that pump sewage to the treatment plants. If they fail, wastewater will back up into the collection system and eventually produce spills.
Brooke Bailey: The main thing that we’re focusing on right now is our lift stations. We have close to 800 lift stations. Our crews were heavily at it, working 12 hour shifts, days and nights, and we were able to evaluate over 500 of them already at this time. So pretty much the main thing is getting those up and energized. We have 50% of them about online at this time, whether that’s through generator, trash pumps or with FPL service returned. So that’s been the main focus.
JW: Two of the three wastewater treatment plants in Sarasota are doing OK, according to Bailey. One is still running on backup power.
BB: One is still running on backup power for the wastewater treatment facilities. We have three of them. Of the three, two of them are now on FPL. The other one is still on generator power, but treatment has been meeting all regulations, and we haven’t had any concerns at the treatment plants.
JW: Water service in the county has been low-pressure, but that should be fixed soon.
BB: From the water perspective, we got the Carlton water treatment plant up and running last night. Everything is good. There we are increasing our tank levels and our ground storage tanks, so we hope to get pressures hopefully over the next couple days, returned more toward to normal. I know everyone’s dealing with a little bit lower pressures at this time.
JW: In the City of Sarasota Friday morning, some customers were without water at all. Water pressure is low, due to QUOTE “numerous water line breaks. Meanwhile, the city urged to conserve water.
In that regard, the county is asking people for help. Utility Director Brooke Bailey:
BB: We are going after breaks, so please keep calling 311, on any breaks you see. We are prioritizing those. So service line leaks again. It will take us a couple of days to get after those. The main breaks we’re going to be going after, one of our larger breaks we did yesterday, a pretty fairly big leak there at Alligator and 41. So thank you so much for calling those in.
JW: Further north, in Bradenton water service is shut off in an area east of downtown, due to a water main break.
Water is on again on the barrier islands in Manatee County, but they are under a boil water notice.
Johannes Werner, WSLR News.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.