So what do you do when you’re a town of not quite 13,000 people and your big-city neighbor to the east decides to pump raw sewage into your fragile tidal estuary because hey, it’s totally legal and really, what else were they supposed to do with all that extra poo? Not much, that’s the answer. When St. Petersburg’s sewer department pumped 15-million-plus gallons of untreated sewage into Clam Bayou rather than risk an overflow into its own city, Gulfport residents realized their hands were totally tied unless they wanted to bring civil suit against their neighbor. But there’s one bonus: Golf balls that land in Clam Bayou from nearby Twin Brooks Golf Course stay close to the surface, thanks to all the sediment from “nonpoint source pollution” (street runoff), giving budget-minded golfers a ready supply of free balls.
