Sewer line repair leads to 10,000-gallon wastewater spill in Florida’s Riviera Bay

(UI) — In Pinellas County, Florida, the municipality of St. Petersburg has reported an incident involving the discharge of around 10,000 gallons of wastewater into Riviera Bay, ABC Action News – WFTS Tampa Bay reported.

The spill occurred between 5 and 7 p.m. on Aug. 19 while addressing a rupture in a sewer line situated at the 8400 block of Tallahassee Dr. NE.

Efforts to stem the discharge into Riviera Bay have been successfully executed by halting the flow, as repair crews diligently mend the 24-inch mainline. It is anticipated that the necessary repairs will conclude by Aug. 22.

As a precautionary measure, the City of St. Petersburg has recommended that the general public refrain from interacting with Riviera Bay until further notification. This advisory extends until comprehensive water quality assessments have been conducted. Furthermore, citizens are informed to expect intermittent closures of the San Martin Boulevard NE Bridge due to ongoing containment operations and construction endeavors.

"It's never a good thing to have waste in the water, but the city kind of has a history of spilling a lot more than 10,000 gallons into the bay. For me, this doesn't seem as bad as the things in the past when we had heavy rains, but it's not good, it's not a good thing," Robert Chamberlin, St. Pete resident, told ABC Action News.

In response to the spill, a specialized pit fortified with sandbags has been established to capture the seepage from the damaged pipe. By employing vacuum trucks, the sewage is being extracted from the pit, successfully averting any further leakage into the bay. The collected sewage is subsequently transported to the city's wastewater facilities for thorough treatment.

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