Sewage spills inundate local waterways after Debby's downpours

Dozens of sewage spills were reported as Debby dumped rain across the region. Officials say wastewater systems aren't designed to handle so much rain.

One of the biggest spills was reported at the South County wastewater treatment facility in Ruskin. About 1.6 million gallons of treated effluent were released due to the heavy rains. Most was contained on the site, but thousand of gallons ended up along Interstate 75.

Sam Elrabi directs the water division of the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission.

"The systems are not designed to handle a hurricane intensity storm, and it is pretty unusual and rare that we have this type of overflow. But systems are not designed to take in that much of intense storm and sustain flow for 24 hours or more," he said. "So I don't want to blame it on infrastructure, but it is pretty unusual for a system to receive this kind of flow."

Elrabi said typically during major storm events, treatment plants sometimes get overwhelmed by the amount of storm water.

"And that storm water typically may not be very clean," he said. "It drags with it lots of sediments, lots of turbidity."

Crews attempt to vacuum up wastewater that spills. But many times, partially treated sewage flows into drains and creeks that lead to rivers and bays.