Water treatment issues linger as Palm Coast deals with sewage backup

Although water issues in Palm Coast are returning to some form of normal, officials continue to urge residents to try to limit usage to essentials, such as showering or flushing toilets, as the city’s sewage water treatment system attempts to get fully back up to speed following Hurricane Milton.

According to Brittany Kershaw, a spokeswoman for Palm Coast, some properties in the community have PEP (Pretreatment Efficient Pumping) sewage systems with a buried tank, small pump and control panel mounted to the home, while others do not.

With widespread power outages following Milton, these pumps did not operate with lift stations over capacity, backing up sewage into residents' shower drains and dishwashing machines. In most cases, alarms sounded on homeowners' systems, alerting them to the situation, Kershaw said. Once the storm had passed, the system was still overloaded when residents tried to use water all at once.

However, as of Tuesday when The News-Journal spoke to Kershaw, many of those issues had been resolved and Palm Coast had lifted water usage limits and determined that tap water was safe for drinking. But officials were still urging residents to continue to conserve non-essential uses if possible.

"People can use toilets, drink water and do washes," Kershaw said. "It is OK to do so, but we are still asking people to conserve where they can, such as watering lawns, which are already saturated, or washing cars. Only essential use is recommended."

Water treatment issues have been a topic of debate in recent years as the Palm Coast community continues to rapidly grow. The state has provided $5 million for land acquisition to further expand another rapid infiltration basin, an offsite pond where treated wastewater known as effluent is sent for storage.

However, a $35 million request to help expand one of the city’s two wastewater treatment plants from 6.83 million gallons per day to somewhere between 9 and 10 million gallons per day, was only funded with $1 million.

Lawmakers did not fund three of the city’s requests, including two reclaimed water main extensions and $25 million sought for a new fortified structure to serve as the city’s operations center and double as an emergency operations center.

Some candidates in the Aug. 20 mayoral primary said the city should focus more on immediate needs. Cornelia Downing Manfre, who is running against Mike Norris in November, said one of the reasons she opted to run was the need to address dwindling capacity for handling wastewater.

Utility Director Stephen Flanagan and consultant Eric Grau have said Palm Coast needs to raise its capital fund balance to accommodate operating and maintaining water, wastewater and stormwater systems.

Without the funds, the system could be vulnerable to cyberattacks, Flanagan warned. Water system pressure reductions could also reduce firefighting capability. And wastewater spills would increase, posing public health risks and potentially leading to regulatory enforcement actions, Flanagan said.

―News-Journal reporter Mark Harper contributed to this story.