ST. PETERSBURG - The city wants neighborhoods to help turn a negative into a positive by participating in a study of reclaimed water from Manatee County. If acidic water from an abandoned phosphate plant in Piney Point is left alone, state officials fear it could spill into Tampa Bay.
The state Department of Environmental Protection took over Piney Point and another site in Polk County in 2001 after the Mulberry Corp. abandoned both sites rather than install environmental safeguards. A 1997 spill of untreated water from the Polk plant into the Alafia River convinced officials that natural marine life must be protected from the plants' untreated water, which contains high levels of sodium and other chemicals. The 1997 spill killed more than 1-million fish and hurt wetlands, the DEP estimated on its Web site.
Now a wetter than average rainy season and possible storms or hurricanes threaten Tampa Bay at the Piney Point site, where acidic water brims close to the top of gypsum stacks, containers rich in phosphate. If more water should force an overflow, officials are convinced the results would be devastating for the environment, said Bruce Bates, St. Petersburg's water reclamation manager.
The state has asked the city to accept some of that water as reclaimed water. Under the plan endorsed by the City Council, treated water would be trucked into St. Petersburg's Southwest Water Reclamation Facility, adjacent to Eckerd College. Residents of Broadwater Estates, Maximo Moorings, Bayway Isles, and Isla del Sol get their reclaimed water from the Southwest facility.
The water would differ from the treated sewage now used for reclaimed water, Bates said. The Piney Point water is left over from making phosphate and probably has high levels of sodium, which treatment will reduce.
"We're trying to be a good neighbor," Bates said. "We're trying to be environmentally responsible. Those folks have a crisis down there." The pilot project will cost $200,000, to be paid out of a state environmental trust fund.
A single 6,000-gallon truck would arrive each day the first week and swell to 20 trucks a day in the final week. If St. Petersburg finds that the water can be used successfully as reclaimed water, Bates said, the city could treat the water over a period of several years needed to deplete the Piney Point supply.
In such a case, the water would be shipped by barge to the Albert Whitted facility and the city would gain revenue for treating and dispersing the water.
Patricia Anderson, the city's water resources director, pitched the proposal on Wednesday to the Council of Neighborhood Associations.
Some residents wanted to know where the incoming water might wind up.
Anderson acknowledged that not all four of the city's water reclamation facilities produce water every day; and that when one is down, it gets water from one of the other facilities.
But she maintained confidence that the city overseers will catch any unsafe water before it can damage any lawns. Anyone wronged can file a grievance against the city, she said.
"If you see damage, we're going to encourage you to file a claim," Anderson said. Water trucks will arrive only between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., an effort to prevent clogging traffic arteries along Interstate 275 and 54th Avenue S.
Anderson will appear before the Broadwater Civic Association on Sept. 10 to further explain the project. The neighborhood has requested that the city monitor the effects of the project on their plants and lawns.
Others have said they will not use reclaimed water during the length of the study, Broadwater president Penny Flaherty said. "I'm getting calls every day and e-mails every day from people in my neighborhood and outside my neighborhood," Flaherty said. "They will be turning their reclaimed faucets off."
Historic Uptown Neighborhoods is inviting the public to its next meeting, where amateur historian and full-time Mayor Rick Baker will speak about the city's past. Meeting time is 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Sunshine Center, 330 Fifth St. N.
The deadline for completed grant applications to be in the hands of Neighborhood Partnership staff is 5 p.m. Sept. 5. Applications can be delivered to the Neighborhood Partnership Department, P.O. Box 2842, St. Petersburg, FL 33731; or hand-delivered to the partnership at City Hall, 175 Fifth St. N, third floor. The deadline is firm, Partnership leaders stress. Jungle Terrace residents need not worry; their association was the first to apply.
A police forfeiture grant workshop starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall. The grants are sponsored by the legal arm of the St. Petersburg Police Department and usually top out at $2,000 to $2,500. They must be directed toward crime prevention and require no matching labor.
Meetings
BAYOU HIGHLANDS: 7 p.m. Thursday (6:30 p.m. social). Skyway Resource Center, 1065 62nd Ave. S, in the Skyway Shopping Center. Public service representative Elean Cushnie, on preparing grant applications for neighborhood signs.
CAYA COSTA: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Rampart Properties, 10233 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. Board meeting.
CROMWELL HEIGHTS: 6 p.m. Thursday. Enoch Davis Center, 1111 18th Ave. S. Open forum.
EUCLID HEIGHTS: 7 p.m. Tuesday. First Alliance Church, 5000 10th St. N. Representative of CASA, a domestic violence shelter for women.
