Aging sewer system, unending problems

HUDSON - The view of the Gulf of Mexico from John Stuper's house in Hudson is spectacular. But for several weeks, Stuper says his view has been spoiled by the smell.

"It's nasty. We were walking around there yesterday and my girlfriend was just gagging. It was just nasty," he says.

The smell was so bad, the couple got their video camera and started shooting the source of the smell.

"I've smelled it for a couple of weeks. Yesterday was the first time I saw the actual flow into the canal."

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection confirms what Stuper is referring to: 250 gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Gulf over the weekend.

The spill came from a small sewer company in Hudson called Ni Florida. The company took over an aging and neglected sewer system two years ago from Hudson Utilities. Ever since, a company official said it's been trying to fix a seemingly unending list of problems.

The company "... put a lot of money into fixing and rehabbing," said Corey Wittenzellner. "Both of the main lift stations in the system have been completely rehabbed, and they've put hundreds of thousands of dollars into correcting the system," he added.

Hudson Beach is close to one of those lift stations. The Pasco Health Department has issued more than 150 advisories for excessive levels of bacteria for the beach in seven years.

Monday, the water was being tested again. A spokeswoman for the department said it would issue another advisory when the lab tests are complete.

In the meantime, Ni Florida said it would continue trying to fix the sewer system.

"We had a lot of salt water coming through into the system, and we've eliminated the majority of it," Wittenzellner said.

In the meantime, Ni Florida insists what Stuper saw and smelled over the weekend was not sewage, just run off from heavy rain fall. But whatever it was, it was enough to spoil Stuper's view.