Pollution spills caused by Hurricane Milton

Environment Florida Research & Policy Center did an analysis of pollution reports submitted to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in connection to Hurricane Milton. 

A conservative estimate of 70,483,875 gallons of pollution was reportedly spilled into our waterways, communities, and neighborhoods as a result of the storm over a period of 7 days. Most of the reports were for raw sewage or partially treated wastewater, but overflows containing toxins from a coal ash pond and toxic phosphate mining wastewater were also reported. Of the 271 reports associated with Hurricane Milton from across the state, more than 100 of them were missing the amounts of pollution spilled. That means the estimate we have is only a portion of what spilled from the storm and because of ongoing storm related activities some agencies may not have reported pollution data yet. The real number is likely much higher.

Spills from the Tampa Bay area (Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee and Sarasota counties) accounted for 50,869,950 gallons of the reported total. Water bodies and wetlands across the state were impacted by the pollution. Including but not limited to the Manatee and Hillsborough rivers, Lake Tarpon, Lake Seminole and Hillsborough bay. Four million gallons of stormwater runoff that included waste from a coal burning utility near Palatka was reported. The largest spill was an estimated 20 million gallons of partially treated wastewater that flowed from the City of Bradenton Water Reclamation Facility into the Manatee River.

While some agencies reported that they vacuumed or cleaned the area, many reported that flood waters washed the contamination away before crews could address the problem. If water contaminated with fecal matter, like sewage, comes in contact with people or wildlife it can cause nausea, diarrhea, ear infections and rashes. It also fuels toxic algae blooms which cover the surface of the waters, poisoning wildlife, choking out the sunlight so food sources like seaweed can’t grow, and closing popular swimming spots.

Methodology

We downloaded Notices of Pollution from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s website between the dates of 10/9 through 10/18 at 8am and documented several things. 

• First we made sure the incident was associated with Hurricane Milton through notation. Most reports included the ultimate cause of the incident whether it was from flooding, power outages or overflow caused by the hurricane. 
• Second we looked at what was reportedly spilled. The majority of the reports indicated it was untreated wastewater or sewage.
• Third we looked to see if the report noted how much was spilled. That data is reported in gallons. About 39% of the reports did not contain this data, and we considered those unknown and they could not be calculated in our totals. In some locations officials attempted to recover the pollution with vacuum trucks; we did not adjust the spilled amount for any that was reported recovered.
• We tried to remove duplicate data when agencies made initial reports, then followed up with additional information.
• And finally we checked each report to see if a waterway or body of water was affected by the spill. Even tainted storm and retention ponds can affect local wildlife. If the report indicated that spilled pollution reached a waterway we noted it.