Marshall Street Water Reclamation Facility Exceedances Updates

(This page was updated at 9:17 a.m. Sept. 5, 2024. Updates are in the section titled "Testing.")

Since the arrival of Tropical Storm Debby in early August, the Marshall Street Water Reclamation Facility has experienced a number of exceedances and treatment upsets that caused partially-treated wastewater to flow into Stevenson Creek and also storm sites on premises. Most recently, those have occurred from Aug. 22 to 29.

What Happened

These occurred through Aug. 29, 2024, and totaled 18.12 million gallons as the plant bypassed tertiary treatment via sand filters, one of the last stages of wastewater treatment. During one event, the backwash system controls failed due to the high number of backwashes and overflowed onto the site. 

Crews had to stop feeding reclaimed water into the system from the Marshall Street plant, but the Northeast Water Reclamation Facility remained online the entire time. Clearwater reclaimed water customers continued to have reclaimed water service but might have experienced low water pressure during the timeframe. 

The preliminary cost of mitigation is unknown at this time but includes Stevenson Creek microbial sampling, vactor truck operations, costs of chemicals and polymers, and employee overtime. 

The plant is one of three wastewater treatment facilities in the city of Clearwater and is located at 1605 Harbor Drive. 

Water Emergencies and Boil-Water Orders

Tropical Storm Debby Sanitary Sewer Overflows

Actions We Took

Clearwater Public Utilities crews are working hard to take additional steps to minimize the negative outcomes of these exceedances and to prevent them from happening in the future. These short-term procedures and solutions have been taken: 

• Clarifiers are used to separate the clean water on top from the solids that are removed from the bottom. Operators used techniques to help settle solids in the bottom of the clarifier tanks.
• Crews also cleaned the filters and worked to bring the meters back online. 
• Maintenance removed and inspected pumps to assure they are working correctly.
• Additional treatment was brought online to help reduce the amount of solids in the plant.
• Operators puled more solids off the bottom to lower levels in the clarifiers.
• Crews used clarifier No. 3 to equalize/reduce the flow during high-flow events.
• We turned off the mixers in tanks before the clarifiers so the solids move more slowly to the clarifiers.
• We identified concerns in the collection system (that brings the wastewater to the plant): manhole propped open, low-lying areas, and potential manhole flooding.
• A contractor is scheduled to remove parts from a clarifier at the Northeast WRF and install it at a clarifier at Marshall St. to make it operational.
• Crews are bringing in the manufacturer to evaluate the filters operation and provide suggestions.
• Crews started redirecting flow from Lift Station 19 from Marshall Street to the East Water Reclamation Facility about 5 p.m. Aug. 30. 

Current Status

There have been no active exceedances since the early morning of Aug. 30, 2024. Crews are working hard to get Marshall Street’s finished reclaimed water back into the city’s reclaimed water system.

See the discussion from the Sept. 3 at the Clearwater Work Session.

Public Notifications

When a spill or exceedance has occurred at a Clearwater Public Utilities water reclamation facility – including at the Marshall Street plant, the first thing Clearwater Public Utilities crews do is report the event to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and the Florida Department of Emergency Management (FDEM), as required by state law. In addition, if partially-untreated wastewater flows into Stevenson Creek, then crews post notification signs at all downstream sampling locations.

The utility then coordinates with the city of Clearwater’s public communications department to let the public know what happened. An array of communication tools are used to let the public know what’s happening:

• Water emergencies webpage at MyClearwater.com/BoilWater. Interested residents can sign up for updates made to this page by click on "Subscribe to This Page" at the bottom of the webpage.
• City news feed, usually pinned to the city homepage under “News” at MyClearwater.com
• An announcement banner that appears at the top of every city webpage, depending on the event
• Nextdoor post to subscribers in the 12 neighborhoods that surround Stevenson Creek. (We issued an emergency alert on Nextdoor on Aug. 23, which sends a push notification to subscribers in the affected area.)
• Facebook post at Facebook.com/CityOfClearwater
• Instagram post at Instagram.com/MyClearwater
• Twitter/X post at Twitter.com/MyClearwater
• Email from neighborhoods team to nearby homeowner association contacts, so they can share information with their neighbors
• MyClearwater News email newsletter

Other communications tools, such as the emergency-alert autodialer system, may be used when time allows.

Testing

The city of Clearwater recognizes the importance of protecting our natural environment and takes wastewater spills and the release of wastewater that has not completed all stages of treatment and filtering seriously.

An evaluation of the recent releases to Stevenson Creek was completed by an environmental specialist to provide input on the potential short-term and long-term impacts of the release. Due to the fact the releases were partially treated, and heavy rains recently experienced, the environmental specialist believes this will dilute the releases, mitigating the impact on Stevenson Creek and Clearwater Harbor long-term.

The city of Clearwater is conducting the testing as indicated in the below graph and will continue to do so as required by the FDEP and at the direction of an environmental specialist. In addition to the testing required by FDEP, an environmental specialist has directed additional samples be collected from the estuary near Edgewater Drive and further up Stevenson Creek in the area of Palmetto Street to further evaluate the impact of recent releases.

Clearwater Public Utilities' typical effluent testing schedule includes the following:

• Depending on the parameter, crews test five to seven times a week for nutrients, solids, biological activity and Fecal Coliform.
• Five times a month, we test for Enterococci.
• Monthly, we test for disinfection byproducts.
• Quarterly, we test for toxicity to aquatic organisms.
• Annually, we test for metals, herbicides, pesticides, poisons, cancer-causing compounds, among other parameters.
• Biannually, we test for viruses.

In addition to our normal Fecal Coliform and Enterococci testing, crews have been testing Stevenson Creek daily. We test the plant effluent, to the east at Betty Lane, and west by the Pinellas Trail.

Below is a map of the water sampling locations, circled in blue.

Moving Forward

The city and the Public Utilities Department remain committed to protecting our natural environment. The department invested roughly $35 million into the Water, Wastewater, and Reclaimed Water system in the past fiscal year and is on pace for a similar investment this year. 

In addition, a wastewater master plan study is underway, with the goal of developing a 30-year master plan and implementation strategy to consolidate the city’s three water reclamation facilities. Not only would this plan accommodate Clearwater’s future population growth, but it will also remove two of the city’s three water reclamation facilities – including Marshall Street – out of the flood zone. It may take as long as ten years to consolidate wastewater plants.

Watch the presentation from Feb. 27, 2023, below.

Questions?

Contact Clearwater Public Utilities by calling (727) 562-4960.