By Kyle Coppola
Flooding Causes Sewage Spill into Lake Griffin in Leesburg
LEESBURG — A significant raw sewage spill occurred in Leesburg following the heavy flooding caused by Hurricane Milton on October 10. According to an initial report, approximately 1.9 million gallons of raw influent were released, with crews managing to recover around 200,000 gallons. The spill was self-reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection by Public Works.
(The plant in question is Leesburg Wastewater Treatment Plant located at 608 North Canal Street, Leesburg, FL 34748.)
The spill took place along Canal Street, where flooding overwhelmed the wastewater system. The suspected cause of the spillage is linked to the storm’s impact on backup power systems. According to the report, the failure of the backup generator was caused by groundwater infiltrating the underground wiring, which ultimately flooded the circuit room. Although the system correctly switched to backup power after the plant lost electricity, the floodwaters compromised the circuit room, causing the automatic transfer switches to malfunction and close the generator breakers. As a result, the backup generator failed, leaving the plant unable to maintain its major systems, which led to the overflow of wastewater.
The plant, typically processing 2.5 million gallons of wastewater per day, was overwhelmed by inflow and infiltration caused by the storm, reaching a peak of 7.0 million gallons per day—double its designed capacity.
(Note the location of the plant in the red pinpoint. There is a community right behind the plant and the canal to the right of the plant leads directly to Lake Griffin.)
The sewage water flowed into a nearby canal that flows into Lake Griffin. There is also a neighborhood of mobile homes directly behind the plant. However Leesburg City Commissioner Al Minner explained, “Despite the breach, the wastewater was diluted by Lake Griffin’s billions of gallons of water, mitigating the potential impact.”
(The plant is visible from Hwy 441 and is located very close to Lake Griffin.)
Efforts to mitigate the spill are ongoing, with workers applying lime to the affected areas as part of the cleanup process.
“Our Public Works crews responded swiftly to an overflow at the Canal Wastewater Treatment Facility caused by heavy rainfall from Hurricane Milton,” City Commissioner Alan Reisman says. “Wastewater did reach Lake Griffin, but the situation is under control and has been reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. We are also exploring long-term solutions to prevent similar incidents in the future.”
Minner noted that the DEP will likely collaborate with Leesburg officials to assess the breach and recommend improvements.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
