With goal of preventing future sewage spills, St. Pete crews begin work on new pipeline

Crews will begin work on the pipeline Tuesday [Jan. 4th] in southwest St. Pete

ST. PETERSBURG – Construction crews in St. Petersburg are ready to break ground on the city’s latest improvement to its sewer system.

Tuesday, crews will begin installing a 16-inch wastewater pipeline in the southwest portion of the city that could prevent future sewage overflows in the area during periods of heavy rain.

The improvement is required under an agreement the city reached with the Florida Department of Environment Protection (FDEP) in 2017 after the city’s sewer system spilled almost 200 million gallons of wastewater into local waterways during 2015 and 2016.

During heavy periods of rain brought by storms like Hurricane Hermine, stormwater flowed into the city’s sewer system and, in turn, pushed wastewater out of it and into places like Clam Bayou in southwest St. Pete.

The new pipeline, once installed, will be able to divert sewage from tanks in the city’s southwest basin to the northwest basin during “peak wet weather events.”