74,500 gallons of wastewater spill into Pinellas County’s Boca Ciega Bay

NS. PETERSBURG – More than 100,000 gallons of sewage leaked from a pipe near the Treasure Island Causeway Sunday morning, of which 74,500 gallons spilled into Boca Ciega Bay.

The sewage burst from a decade-old pipe that was within the St. Petersburg city limits but owned by St. Pete Beach. The pipe was so old that the city of St. Pete Beach didn’t know it existed, said Mike Clarke, director of public works for St. Pete Beach, in a phone interview Monday night.

The spillage was reported to St. Petersburg officials just after 10 a.m. Sunday and lasted until 1:30 p.m., according to a report submitted to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The leak in the sanitary sewer came from a two-inch standpipe that hadn’t been used for decades, Clarke said.

“If you have these older systems that were sunk in the ground in the 1950s and 60s, you know, people (sales) and knowledge transfer, sometimes they’re not great,” said Clarke. “And we didn’t know the current staff at St. Pete Beach that there was a standpipe at all. If we had known, we would have had information about it in order to carry out maintenance work. “

St. Pete Beach is in the middle of a technical inspection of its sewer pipes, Clarke said. The engineering office performing the inspection had not yet reached the burst pipe.

St. Petersburg crews cleaned up the leak and prevented about 24,000 gallons from reaching Boca Ciega Bay. They are currently doing water tests to measure the water quality of the bay. In the area of ​​the spill there are “caution” signs indicating that the surface and the surrounding water “can be influenced by sewage”.

The water quality tests will take a few days to show results, Clarke said.

The leak occurred at the corner of Central Avenue and 79th Street South, an intersection where utilities from St. Petersburg, Treasure Island, St. Pete Beach and Pinellas Counties cluster underground. Immediately after the leak, the crews didn’t know who owned the burst pipe, Clarke said.

The story goes on

The four communities were all in contact while the crews cleaned up the sewage.

“We would like to thank the St. Petersburg staff for supporting St. Pete Beach – and assure the public that we are doing everything in our power to prevent these types of incidents from occurring in the future and are following proper reporting and cleanup procedures Said Clarke.

The St. Pete Beach Sewer Company is looking at ways to permanently replace the burst pipe, Clarke said.

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