One of the major pertinent environmental issues in Tampa Bay is the Sewage problem. The sewage problem not only poses health risks but also threatens biodiversity in natural ecosystems. With the increased population and development projects in Tampa Bay, the sewage output has continued to increase. The increase causes a problem with sewage management and treatment with an expansion of the existing system warranted. However, a closer look at the trend of sewage leaks suggests otherwise. Notably, the sewage leaks largely during the rainy season and leaks to the nearby beaches thus polluting them. However, it has been established that the leakage comes from damages to the underground sewage pipes and not from the system’s inability to handle the sewage (Frago, 2017). With continued investigations on the subject matter, it was established that 200 million gallons of sewage spilled into Tampa Bay in the years 2015 and 2016. With this in mind, researchers have investigated ways of managing sewage such as treating it for agricultural use. However, more research is needed to establish other ways of handling sewage and thus protect the environment from further pollution. Tampa Bay has several sewage plants with the main plant being the Southwest plant. The southwest plant handles most of Tampa bay's sewage, and it is indeed a burden to the facility. In fact, in the year 2015, a shuttering of the sewage plant handling downtown waste resulted in a sewage crisis in Tampa Bay (Frago, 2017). From this incident alone, over thirty million gallons of sewage spilled and were washed into the roads and waterways. Other facilities were also affected with Eckerd College having to handle a large amount of the waste. The continued spillage has not spared the beaches in the area, as waterways eventually channel their waters into these recreational areas. In the process, the beaches become a health hazard due to the waste and pathogens deposited therein during the rainy season. Data from research by Korajkic et al., 2011 shows that "human fecal pollution affected water quality at BTD beach, as evidenced by frequent exceedances of FIB regulatory standards and recurrent detection of human-associated MST markers." They remark that despite the concerted efforts of improving the quality of water, erratic leakages of sewage continue to, “Plague the BTD area because of aging sewer infrastructure." Another study conducted on four beaches in Tampa Bay established high contamination rates of water on the beaches with enterococci and fecal coliforms (Korajkic et al., 2011). The study involved consultations with the Department of Health personnel and sought to establish the potential sources of contamination further. Their findings pointed out three sources of contamination and attributed them as the key contributors to the pollution of Tampa Bay beaches Korajkic et al., 2011. The first source was runoff arising from stormwater that carried waste from parking lots and roads. The second source was the structurally damaged restrooms located close to the water’s edge that allowed leakage of waste into the beaches. The third source was deemed to be sewage leakages from some sections of the main sewer. From the above facts, it is indeed true that the sewage infrastructure receives the largest part of the blame for the sewage problem in Tampa Bay. As consultants in the city agree, the fast-paced developments taking place in the downtown areas pose no threat to the sewage situation. They affirm that the needed solution lies in fixing the underground sewage pipes that leak during rainy seasons. Other than fixing the underground pipes, there is a need to consider the agricultural usage of treated sewage sludge since it is a sustainable way of disposing of the sludge ( Grøn, 2007, Mininni, 2015).
References
Frago, C. (2017). Leaky pipes, not new buildings, are causing St. Petersburg's crisis. Development Not Fueling Sewage Woes. Tampa Bay Times (FL).
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Grøn, C. (2007). Organic contaminants from sewage sludge applied to agricultural soils. False alarm regarding possible problems for food safety? (8 pp). Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 14, 53-60.
Korajkic, A., Brownell, M. J., & Harwood, V. J. (2011). Investigation of human sewage pollution and pathogen analysis at Florida Gulf Coast beaches. Journal of applied microbiology, 110 (1), 174-183.
Mininni, G. (2015). Effective management of sewage sludge.
