NORTH PORT, Fla. — North Port is grappling with how to fund a state-mandated $17 million sewage treatment plant upgrade after Hurricane Debby caused around one million gallons of treated wastewater to spill into a nearby canal.
WATCH: FOX 4's Hunter Walterman takes you inside the plant:
The plant is permitted to treat 5 million gallons of wastewater a day, according to Mike Vuolo, assistant utilities director. Normally, it handles about 2.5 million a day. But significant rain can put pressure on the facility.
The facility processes sewage and produces effluent, which is used for irrigation. Heron Creek Golf Course is the city's main customer, according to Wastewater Superintendent Jim Colvin. During the rainy season, that demand dies down.
When Debby dumped a significant amount of rain on the facility in 2024, the system got overwhelmed. North Port has a two million gallon storage tank and a holding pond for overflow.
The plant also has a deep injection well that pumps water far underground. But the well's pipe couldn't handle the extra water. So, treated wastewater flooded into a bypass canal next to the plant, according to Vuolo. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) is requiring the city to upgrade the pipe, Vuolo said.
"When there's been a lot of rain and the golf courses aren't buying water to irrigate with, it has to go somewhere else," said Don Duke, professor of water resources at Florida Gulf Coast University. "The deep injection we're talking about is far underground, thousands of feet. And we expect that we'll never see that water again."
The Clean Water Act required sewage treatment since 1972. Under the law, plants are subject to regulation if it discharges treated wastewater into creeks, rivers, and other bodies of water.
But if that treated wastewater is used for irrigation, sewage plants can avoid a lot of regulatory expense, Duke said. So, many plants try to direct all of its water to irrigate golf courses, highway medians, and parks. Regulations prevent treated wastewater from irrigation of food crops.
Almost every treatment plant in Florida, including North Port, uses a deep injection well, Duke said. When the rainy season slows demand for irrigation, these wells pump water deep into the ground. Florida Senate Bill 64, passed in 2021, requires most counties to eliminate surface water discharge of effluent by 2032.
Many treatment plants turned to deep injection as an alternative. The consent agreement requires North Port to expand its deep injection pipe, Vuolo said. The city plans to almost double the deep injection pipe from 16 inches to 30 inches, Vuolo said. The facility also needs to add backup pumps.
Vuolo said there hasn't been a spill since Debby. The plant made changes to how it manages effluent, Vuolo said, including fixing old manholes and leaky pipes.
The consent agreement isn't the only reason North Port is eyeing improvements to the plant. As the city grows, so must the plant, Vuolo said. That could mean expanding the current wastewater facility, or building a new one. First, North Port must address the consent order, Vuolo said.
"It all kind of adds up together, which is creating a problem" Vuolo said. "We have to forecast the growth and these wet weather events to make sure we're being good stewards of the environment and minimizing the impacts of any spills."
Now, city leaders must figure out how to pay for the upgrades. North Port voters rejected bonds for the project in May, leaving city leaders to explore alternative funding methods.
North Port is the only city in Florida that requires voter approval to take on debt. That poses a challenge as the city grapples with multiple large infrastructure needs that were rejected by voters.
The city is now considering several options, according to city commission documents: That includes a public-private partnership or FDEP loans that cover part of the project cost.
Mayor Phil Stokes said commissioners will discuss these funding options at a workshop on Monday, Sept. 8.
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