No rain today, but if you're near Gulfport, don't go in the water. It's nasty. Really nasty. You'll definitely want to stay out of Clam Bayou, too.
Despite a failing sewer system (which Gulfport is currently replacing and repairing), the issue isn't Gulfport's sewers.
It's St. Petersburg, the giant to the east and the north, whose public works department is pumping raw sewage — Mayor Rick Kriseman's office stressed to Creative Loafing the sewage "was diluted" with stormwater — into Clam Bayou. From there, the raw sewage should, Kriseman's office stresses, settle in the stormwater settlement pond before flowing through the rest of Clam Bayou and into Boca Ciega Bay. Nevertheless, St. Petersburg asked Gulfport to close its beach.
Clam Bayou is the last remaining tidal estuary on Boca Ciega Bay. Public Works officials with St. Petersburg could not be reached for comment.
Citing the rainfall of the past few weeks, the mayor's office told Creative Loafing, this was an alternative to allowing the raw sewage to overflow into Boca Ciega Bay. The city of St. Petersburg had three pumps around Clam Bayou, all connected to the sanitary sewer, pumping sewage – in one instance over the grass by a playground (Kriseman's chief of staff Kevin King told Creative Loafing the city had closed the playground, although this reporter saw only water contamination signs at the site Tuesday morning) — into Clam Bayou.
Since this post first ran, city spokesman Ben Kirby issued the following statement outlining the reasons the city is pumping the water into Clam Bayou:
Excessive rainfall amounts over a prolonged period of time have resulted in supersaturated soil conditions and periodic standing water in our streets and alleys. These uncommon weather conditions have caused extreme volumes of inflow and infiltration into the City's sanitary sewer collection system causing treatment plant capacities to be exceeded. In order to protect our citizen’s health and property from uncontrolled overflowing manholes, we have initiated a set of controlled bypasses. These bypasses are being discharged into the Clam Bayou stormwater treatment system. These rainfall-diluted flows will receive treatment before flowing into the bayou. As a precautionary measure the impacted beaches have been posted with signage and the public should avoid water contact in these areas. We are working to maximize the amount of water treated and will cease the bypasses as soon as possible.
Earlier, King told Creative Loafing the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) built the settlement pond for this purpose. SWFWMD engineers familiar with the estuary were surprised to hear this Tuesday morning.
"That is a stormwater pond for stormwater and surface water runoff. It is not designed for wastewater discharges," Janie Hagberg, a Senior Professional Engineer with SWFWMD who worked on the Clam Bayou redesign and stormwater settlement pond, said. Hagberg said upon receiving Creative Loafing's voicemail, she had called the City of St. Petersburg but had not heard back.
Also since this post first ran, FDEP has provided more information and we have updated the story accordingly:
Whether or not SWFWMD designed stormwater pond to be able to withstand the onslaught of fecal matter and other, er, human leavings doesn't matter from a legal standpoint. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) says the city acted within legal limits.
"The utility timely reported to the department as required," Ana Gibbs, the External Affairs Manager for the Southwest FDEP office, says. "A team from St. Petersburg will conduct the required nutrient and fecal coliform sampling until water quality returns to normal conditions."
Gibbs suggests the "extraordinary and emergency conditions" the rain of the past weeks caused the overflow and thus necessitating the pumping into the estuary.
In prior years, heavy rainfall (not unlike that of recent weeks) has flooded the pond and sent pond water to flow into the remainder of the estuary before prolonged "settling" time in the pond. Gulfport and St. Petersburg expect more rain later this week.
St. Petersburg officials asked Gulfport to close its beaches, which city staff did early today. Gulfport city manager Jim O'Reilly promised residents and visitors Gulfport would continue to monitor its beaches. O'Reilly also said Gulfport had a "small discharge" of sewage during recent rains but it wouldn't have warranted closing the beach, O'Reilly says. That discharge, at the southern end of 49th Street South at Boca Ciega Bay, was resolved in a night, he says.
"We level the sewers and hold them, and we work all night," he said, "but [St. Petersburg's] talking about much greater volume."
Kurt Zuelsdorf, the owner of kayak tour and rental company Kayak Nature Adventures, spoke out against the actions.
"It troubles me that one of the largest cities in Florida — in the year 2015 — is using an ancient 'emergency plan' for the intentional dumping of sewage into our waterways," he said after driving by the pumps.
"I cannot risk the well-being of myself, my family, or my customers to the possible dangers of paddling in the contaminated water that is dumping into our beautiful bay," Zuelsdorf, who worked as an activist during the redesign of the preserve, said. "My heart sinks, too, for the sea turtles, manatee, dolphin and marine life that frequent our park."
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 5, 2015.