The Sarasota area’s well-known Gulf waters have turned a dark muddy brown after Tropical Storm Debby washed flooding and sewage offshore.
Environmental advocates are working to understand the full impact on local water quality.
“There is a tremendous amount of wastewater overflows that have occurred,” Sarasota Bay Estuary Program Director Dave Tomasko said. “One of the bigger issues is all of the urban stormwater runoff that comes into the bay, all that street flooding in Phillippi Creek and Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key, all of that is being washed into Sarasota Bay. There is no doubt our water quality was hit and hit pretty hard.”
More: Millions of gallons of sewage spilled in Sarasota and Manatee during Debby. See where.
Also: Myakka River: Debby floodwater expected to progress into South Sarasota county
Estuary Program eyes impact of Phillippi Creek flooding on south Sarasota Bay
Tomasko has scouted conditions in Sarasota Bay since Tropical Storm Debby but said sample work to determine the storm’s impact on local water quality is just getting started.
He expects the biggest impact to come from heavy flooding along Phillippi Creek in Sarasota. Researchers will take water samples from the same locations in Sarasota Bay that they studied during Hurricane Ian to compare results between each storm. They will be checking oxygen levels, nutrients, algae and bacteria.
More: Sarasota County water levels expected to recede over next few days after Debby floods
“One-third of our bay’s watershed is Phillippi Creek,” Tomasko said. “The thing about Phillippi Creek is with an incoming tide that water is transported to the south, to Little Sarasota Bay. Little Sarasota Bay had the biggest problems after Hurricane Ian. We anticipate it’s going to have the worst problems after this rain event.”
He said the estuary program’s research is focused on the lower part of the bay, where the impact should be greater because the system’s ability to rebound is lower in that area.
“It’s not going to be pretty for a while,” he said. “After Ian, we found algal blooms that lasted at least two weeks, we had bacteria levels that were high. It could very well be that next week the water is going to smell worse than it does now because it takes a little while for the bacteria levels to get high enough to get oxygen levels to crash at the bottom.”
Sewage spills reported throughout the Sarasota-Manatee region
Suncoast Waterkeeper is keeping tabs on the significant amount of sewage spills reported throughout the region.
Municipalities throughout Sarasota and Manatee counties reported at least 6.6 million gallons of sewage spills as a result of Tropical Storm Debby. Founder Justin Bloom took issue with municipalities like Manatee County and the City of Sarasota not reporting estimated amounts of sewage spilled during the storm, and an apparent lag in reporting by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
“Unfortunately it’s very common,” Bloom said. “These sewage systems were not built to accommodate this type of storm, so it’s going to continue to happen. There is a period for many years where municipalities throughout this region failed to make adequate investment in their sewage systems, they are behind the ball. They are leaky systems.”
More in Manatee: Residents flooded out by Manatee County water release in response to Debby
In 2022 the Suncoast Waterkeeper and the City of Bradenton settled a lawsuit over at least 160 million gallons of sewage dumped into the Manatee River since 2018. That settlement ensures that the Suncoast Waterkeeper receives copies of communications between the city and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Those records show the amount of sewage bypassed by the city into the Manatee River since Tropical Storm Debby has grown to at least 25 million gallons, far more than the 3.5 million initially reported by the city early during the spill.
“I am really concerned because Manatee County and the City of Sarasota, we don’t know how these systems performed because they didn’t make an estimate in their public notices,” Bloom said. “Then, when it comes to Bradenton I just want to cry. They are at 25 million gallons, from what I understand. It’s a huge amount of sewage being discharged into the river.”
“While they are under this settlement, which is designed for them to come into compliance, they are lagging behind,” he said.
No red tide has been identified in the Gulf
Tomasko said he is relieved that his biggest concern, red tide, does not appear to be an issue after Debby.
A significant red tide bloom plagued local waters after Hurricane Ian in 2022, making a significant impact on water quality, sea life and the tourism industry.
“There doesn’t appear to be any red tide offshore in the Gulf of Mexico,” Tomasko said. “That’s really important because if there was Karenia Brevis, if we had any of it out there at any detectable levels, it would be bad because we’ve just loaded a huge amount of nutrients into our coastal waters. But it does not look like we have any evidence of a red tide out in the Gulf of Mexico, and that would be the worst-case scenario.”
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Advocates study how Tropical Storm Debby affected local water quality
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