St. Pete Faces $820,000 Fine for Sewage Spills

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — St. Petersburg faces an $820,000 fine from the state after after ongoing issues with its sewage system led to the spillage of more than 200 million gallons of wastewater over the last 13 months.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection presented the city with a 12-page proposed consent order on Thursday. If that order is finalized, the city faces $820,000 in fines for the spills. St. Petersburg could, however, reduce its fines by as much as $810,000 if the city puts a pollution prevention program in place. The remaining $10,000 would cover the state’s costs related to its investigation of the spill problems.

Some of the measures the city will have to take to avoid the bulk of the fine include:

• Digging injection wells at the Northwest and Southwest wastewater treatment plants
• Making improvements to increase the processing capacity at the Southwest plant; a project that has already begun
• Repairing cracks in pipes and fixing manhole covers that allow rainwater to seep into the sewer system
• Creating a master plan for addressing all the city’s sewage issues

St. Petersburg’s sewage problems began to surface in August 2015. The problem reached critical mass over the summer when Tropical Storm Colin and Hurricane Hermine passed through the area, dumping more rain than the city’s sewage system could handle. The city reportedly released about 150 million gallons of sewage into Tampa Bay following Hermine’s pass through the area. Other spills occurred over the past 13 months.

Since the issue came to a head over the summer, Mayor Rick Kriseman released a “wastewater improvement plan” meant to help address the problems. The proposal calls for spending about $45 million in the short-term to expand both the Southwest and Northwest treatment plants. It also calls for improvements at the Northeast Plant, lining and repairing the underground collection system and kicking off a master planning process. The plan’s details can be found on the city’s website.

The state’s consent order remained a “proposal” as of Friday and had not yet been finalized, Shannon Herbon of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection told Patch. The state is waiting for final edits from the city, Herbon said.

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