St. Petersburg City Council members are demanding answers concerning a waste water spill in September they say city water officials downplayed.

• 15 million gallons of partially treated water went into injection well
• Disparity between information given to state DEP, given to the public
• St. Pete, other cities will meet with DEP over aging infrastructure
  

There are questions regarding what state environmental officials were told about some 15 million gallons of partially treated water that was poured into an injection well in the city’s North Plant after Hurricane Irma, compared to what the public was told.

Although city water officials accurately reported the spill to the Department of Environmental Protection, some council members insist those same officials downplayed the spill to the public in a Sept. 11 press release stating, “The spill was contained on the plant property and none of the water went into any water body."

“St. Pete is not alone with struggling with old, brittle infrastructure," said City Council Chair Darden Rice.

The D.E P. seems to agree. Officials there said St. Petersburg was among nearly a dozen cities and counties in the Bay area that received warning letters concerning spills during Hurricane Irma.

Several of those cities, including St. Petersburg, have meetings scheduled with D.E.P. officials to go over those spills.

Rice says there is something to be learned from all this.

“Are we looking back at what we could've done better?" Rice said. "Are we looking at our operations to figure out how we could've gotten information more quickly or coordinated better? Of course we are, because that's how we get better for next time, because we know strong storms are going to be things of the future.”