Lakeland's Lakes Have Recovered from Massive Wastewater Spills, City Says

It took about two weeks, but water testing shows that Lakeland’s lakes have recovered from the 5,187,000 gallons of wastewater — some partially treated but most raw — that spilled when Hurricane Milton’s heavy rains overwhelmed the city’s sewer system.

The harmful bacteria has broken down and all affected lakes are back to acceptable water quality levels, Lakes and Stormwater Manager Laurie Smith said. Caution signs have been removed and boat ramps are open again.

‘Test and wait’: Wastewater crews worked to contain at least eight active spills affecting six lakes in the hours after Hurricane Milton passed over Lakeland. But after that, there wasn’t much the city could do besides test water samples and wait.

“There’s not like a treatment that you can do,” Smith said. “It’s basically a function of allowing the bacteria to break down naturally. Good sunny days expedite that process. So it’s really just a matter of letting nature take its course.”

Lakes and Stormwater employees went out in boats over a period of 12 days, collecting 221 water samples from 36 sites. Chemists at the city’s Glendale Water Reclamation Facility tested each sample for fecal coliform and E. coli bacteria.

How much wastewater spilled?

City employees used flow rates and drainage maps to estimate how many gallons of contaminated water spilled and where it went. The following table shows their final assessment of Hurricane Milton-related spills.

What was the health risk?

Water quality rules vary depending on what a body of water is used for. Standards are highest for lakes used for drinking water or shellfish propagation, but Polk County doesn’t have any of those.

Lakeland’s lakes are used for recreation and maintaining a healthy ecosystem for fish and wildlife. Residents do not usually swim in or drink the water, so the Polk County Water Atlas says the risk to residents was low.

Fecal coliform includes bacteria from human and animal waste. It can cause open wounds to become infected and can cause intestinal illness if swallowed.
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is one of the many types of bacteria within the fecal coliform group. It is considered a more useful indicator of health risk.

High bacteria levels: In the first days after the spills, all of the affected lakes had high bacteria levels. Some samples from Lake Hunter, Lake Bonny and Lake Somerset had more than six times the state’s “most probable number” contamination threshold of 410 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters of water.

The city tested multiple locations in each lake. Bacteria counts rose and fell as water circulated through swollen lake systems. However, by Oct. 18, all of the levels were back to the acceptable range.

Is it safe to eat locally caught fish? None of the agencies that deal with the environment, wildlife or food safety were able to answer definitively on Wednesday. But the Florida Department of Health’s Polk County office has not issued any advisories related to fish.

“We take it very seriously when anything impacts our lakes,” Smith said. But she said she was not aware of any concern regarding fishing. Most of the water quality challenges facing local lakes are from nitrogen and phosphorus, which are nutrients that fuel plant growth and throw off the balance of the ecosystem.

“I never, in my years, have heard that elevated levels of nutrients are going to impact fish, unless it’s like the red tide and it’s that harmful algae,“ Smith said. “Occasionally, we might have a small bloom in one of our lakes, but generally, we don’t have that issue. So that’s a good thing.”

For more information

Florida Department of Health in Polk County
Lakeland office: 863-519-7900

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission | FWC
Lakeland office: 863-648-3200

How were individual lakes impacted? The city’s lakes recovered at different rates, based partly on the rate of water flow. The lakes are connected with each other and lead to either the Peace River or the Hillsborough River.

Lake Somerset received the most wastewater by far, with 3 million gallons of untreated wastewater and 2 million gallons of partially treated wastewater spilling into it from the city’s Glendale Wastewater Reclamation Facility. But it was among the first to recover.

The Lake Somerset boat ramp reopened on Oct. 18 and the Lake Hollingsworth and Lake Bonny ramps reopened on Oct. 23. Lake Parker Park and its boat ramps have also reopened.

Test results for each of the impacted lakes

Lake Somerset

Wastewater rushing into Glendale’s intermediate pump station exceeded its capacity. It overflowed for about 19.5 hours, spilling 3 million gallons of untreated wastewater into the stormwater system that feeds Lake Somerset.

In addition, an effluent line supercharged by Milton’s rains overwhelmed the secondary clarifiers at the Glendale treatment plant, sending about 2 million gallons of partially treated wastewater into the same system. It took 50.5 hours for the overflow to stop.

Lake Hunter Outfall Ditch

A pump station at 1501 Ariana St. near the Georgetowne Mobile Home Park lost power and spilled 5,000 gallons of wastewater over 14 hours until city crews hooked up a generator.

In addition, waste bubbled up through a manhole near Unitah Avenue and Lake Hunter Drive for 12 hours, spilling 90,000 gallons of wastewater into the ditch that leads to the lake.

Lake Hollingsworth

A manhole near Fairmount Avenue and Lake Hollingsworth Drive overflowed and spilled 50,000 gallons of wastewater over 58 hours into a storm drain that leads to Lake Hollingsworth.

Lake Bonny

Flood conditions around Lake Bonny overwhelmed the collection system, including manholes on the north side of the lake. A pump station at 1106 Bartow Road near the Bonny Apartments spilled about 25,000 gallons of wastewater into the lake over three days (80 hours).

Lake Bentley

A manhole near John Arthur Way and Lake Bentley Court overflowed and spilled about 15,000 gallons of wastewater into a storm drain that leads to Lake Bentley. The city was able to recover some of the water, but testing showed contamination still got into the lake.

Lake Parker

Rising lake levels flooded portions of a gravity sewer at West Lake Parker Drive and Bella Vista Street, overwhelming the collection system. Crews worked to remove water and contain the spill, but about 2,000 gallons of sewage flowed into Lake Parker.

Preventing future spills

Lakeland often has sewage spills after exceptionally heavy rains, but the city is poised to spend about $74 million to upgrade its Western Trunk Line, which is nearly 80 years old.

In one of the pollution notices filed with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, city Water Compliance Manager Tania McMillan wrote, “Western trunk upgrades to the collections system are expected to alleviate pressure on the system.”

Insight Polk examines community conditions and solutions in six target areas from UCIndicators.org: economic & employment opportunity, education, housing, food security, transportation & infrastructure, and quality of life.

LkldNow’s Insight Polk independent reporting is made possible by the United Community Indicators Project with funding by GiveWell Community Foundation & United Way of Central Florida. All editorial decisions are made by LkldNow.

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