Florida knows how to prepare for hurricanes. But protecting homes and businesses is only part of that work. Water and wastewater systems have to keep running through heavy rain, storm surge, flooding, and power outages, and some of the threats they face don't end when the storm moves on.

Rising seas and saltwater intrusion create longer-term concerns, particularly for coastal communities that rely on groundwater. At the same time, more intense rainfall can send huge volumes of water into wastewater systems in a matter of hours.

What Sarasota Learned From the 2024 Hurricane Season

Sarasota County got a close look at both problems in 2024. During Tropical Storm Debby, heavy rain and flooding overwhelmed parts of the sewer collection system, contributing to overflows at nine lift stations. Two months later, Hurricane Milton knocked out power at lift stations across the county.

Some of the problems were obvious. Others happened largely out of public view. A lift station without power or a treatment plant taking on far more water than usual isn't as visible as a flooded road or damaged home. But those failures can affect how quickly a community gets back to normal.

The experience also showed why preparing water infrastructure for a hurricane involves more than protecting a treatment plant. Pumps need power. Lift stations need to keep operating. Pipelines and collection systems have to handle unusually high flows. If several pieces fail at once, problems can quickly spread through the system.

Hurricanes Put Water Infrastructure to the Test

A hurricane causes havoc. High winds can damage electrical equipment and infrastructure. Heavy rainfall can overwhelm drainage systems and wastewater networks. Storm surge can inundate treatment facilities and pumping stations. Power outages can prevent otherwise undamaged equipment from operating. While a treatment plant might be able to withstand one of these disruptions, problems compound when several occur at the same time.

A treatment plant might lose power. A pumping station might become inaccessible because surrounding roads are flooded. A pipeline might be affected by shifting ground or excessive inflow and infiltration. Together, these problems can create a chain reaction that affects everything downstream.

The strain extended beyond individual lift stations. During Debby, the Bee Ridge Water Reclamation Facility experienced peak flows of more than 20 million gallons per day as stormwater inundated wastewater systems. Following Milton, the county also reported wastewater spills caused by power losses and electrical problems at lift stations.

Building infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather requires resilience across the entire system, not individual structures. The aim is to ensure that if one part is compromised, the entire system does not go down with it.

Flood-Proofing Infrastructure

In Florida, too much water can become a problem quickly. A hard rain can send stormwater into sewer systems and push more flow toward a treatment plant than it would normally see. Floodwater can also reach pumps, controls and electrical equipment. Even after the water recedes, damaged equipment may remain out of service.

Growth adds another wrinkle. More pavement and development can change how water moves through an area, while the water and wastewater systems serving that area still have to perform during an unusually wet day.

There are practical ways to reduce that exposure. Electrical equipment can be moved above expected flood levels. Vulnerable pumps and controls can be protected. Backup power and treatment capacity can give operators options when part of the system is unavailable. Which measures make sense depends on where a facility is located and how it is likely to fail during a storm.

Saltwater Intrusion Poses a Different Threat

Flooding is hard to miss. Saltwater moving into a freshwater aquifer isn't.

That matters in Sarasota County, where groundwater remains part of the local water supply. In coastal areas, pumping groundwater can lower freshwater levels enough to change the balance between fresh and salt water. Drought can add to that pressure, and rising seas are another long-term concern. If saltwater moves into a freshwater aquifer, reversing the damage isn't necessarily quick or easy.

Communities facing that problem aren't limited to one water source. Brackish groundwater, for example, can be treated with reverse osmosis to produce potable water. Other supplies can also be developed so that a community isn't relying as heavily on a single source.

Why Backup Capacity Matters

Resilient water systems are designed with the possibility of failure in mind. In engineering terms, that means building redundancy into critical systems so they can continue operating when one component fails. While this might seem inefficient when everything is working fine, the value of redundancy becomes apparent when something stops working.

A resilient water system might have backup pumping capacity, emergency power, additional treatment capacity, or alternative water sources. It might also be able to temporarily shift demand between facilities or to bring additional treatment capacity online. Building infrastructure to meet today's demand can leave little room for unexpected growth, equipment failure, or emergency conditions. While that extra capacity might sit unused much of the time, its value will be appreciated when demand suddenly increases or another part of the system goes offline.

Smaller Systems Can Create Greater Resilience

Traditional water and wastewater systems often rely on large, centralized facilities that serve broad geographic areas. Decentralized systems take a different approach, using smaller treatment systems located closer to the point of use to serve individual developments, neighborhoods, or communities.

These systems are not immune to hurricanes or flooding, but they can provide another option for communities looking to diversify infrastructure or add capacity in specific areas. Seven Seas Water Group is among the companies developing and operating decentralized systems that can be expanded as demand increases, an approach that can be useful in fast-growing coastal areas where development and infrastructure do not always move on the same schedule.

Resilience Starts Before the Storm

Florida communities cannot eliminate the risks that come with hurricanes, flooding, or a changing coastline. They can, however, decide how vulnerable essential infrastructure will be when those conditions arrive.

Sometimes resilience means elevating electrical equipment or adding emergency generators. It can mean increasing treatment capacity, developing another water source, or reducing reliance on a single facility.

The 2024 hurricane season offered the suncoast a close-up look at what happens when extreme weather collides with infrastructure built for more ordinary conditions. The next step is using those lessons before the next storm puts the system to the test again.