The city of St. Petersburg has admitted to a spill of treated waste water at its northeast plant.
- Additional wastewater dumped in St. Petersburg
- 430,000 gallons of partially treated wastewater spilled at northeast plant
- St Pete water officials to meet with environmental officials
The incident happened just after Hurricane Irma swept over the Bay area in early September.
About 430,000 gallons of fully treated, but not chlorinated water poured out of vents in a holding tank at the facility at 1160 62nd Avenue Northeast on September 11.
The city's interim water resources director John Palenchar said that water became part of some 15 million gallons that was injected into the aquifer but added it is important to note where it was injected.
"So where we injected that into is nearly 1,000 feet down into the aquifer, into the rocks," Palenchar said. "And it's a salty part of the aquifer. What it really does, and I've talked with our hydrogeologists about this is, it's actually cleaner than the water that's down there."
The city previously had large sewage dumps in 2015 and 2016. Those spills, totaling more than 190 million gallons of partially treated sewage into Tampa Bay and other waterways, led to the city devising a $300 million plan to treat the sewage issues.
City water officials are scheduled to meet with Department of Environmental Protection officials Nov. 8.