POLK COUNTY, Fla. — The destruction of Hurricane Ian is not only present on land, but also in the water.
Hurricane Ian led to millions of gallons of wastewater spills across Polk County.
“We had four wastewater spills due to power outage at our substations,” said Kevin Cook, spokesperson for the City of Lakeland.
Cook said 49 out of 180 city-owned pump stations lost power due to the category-four storm. Only 21 of those had backup onsite generators.
While crews worked on getting portable generators for the failed pump stations, thousands of gallons of wastewater was leaked into local bodies of water.
“One being Anglers Lake and the other one we had a spill go into a drainage ditch that ultimately leads into the Itchepackasassa River,” said Cook.
Polk County has reported more than 16 million gallons of wastewater spills as of October 7.
In Haines City, more than 15 million gallons of reclaimed water was released from a storage pond into wetlands that flow into Lake Marion.
“Knowing how much water was going to drop, we opened the reclaim pond gate valve on September 28 and we closed it on October 3,” said James Keene, Haines City Public Services Administrator.
While reclaimed water is used for irrigation, the spill was reported to the state because the city does not have the necessary permits. To reduce future wastewater spills, both cities are requiring new lift stations to have a generator installed.
“We’re purchasing additional large available generators to assist us in keeping power on to some of the smaller lift stations,” said Cook.
Lakeland has also installed diesel-operated bypass pumps in some locations, so when wastewater reaches a certain level, it automatically kicks in.
