"Had they done that at the beginning, they would’ve saved an incredible amount of money."
As St. Petersburg waited for the stadium deal with the Tampa Bay Rays to officially expire, it resolved another festering challenge: a sewage crisis from a decade ago.
Sarasota-based environmental group Suncoast Waterkeeper, along with two other organizations, sued the city after it discharged 1 billion gallons of wastewater from 2015 to 2016. Up to 200 million gallons wound up in waterways including Tampa Bay.
As part of a settlement agreement, the city pledged to repair and upgrade its neglected sewage systems, increase water quality testing and promptly notify the public of any sewage spills or water quality issues. Suncoast Waterkeeper told a federal judge March 31 that St. Petersburg has done what it said it would do, fulfilling the settlement and ending court-supervised compliance.
Read more at the Tampa Bay Times