Things are improving sewage-wise along St. Pete Beach.
Residents are no longer being asked to limit their bathing, dishwashing and toilet flushing and no further sewage is being pumped out into the bay.
- Tropical Storm Colin backed up St. Pete Beach's sewer system
- Residents no longer asked to limit bathing, dishwashing and flushing
- Crews vacuum out system, taking waste to a wet well
According to Mike Clarke, the city's Director of Public Works, conditions are returning to normal today.
Clarke said there was a small surge in the system Wednesday morning as people woke up and started getting ready for work, but it wasn't too bad and nothing like the problems Tuesday.
Today, vacuum trucks were vacuuming the drains and taking the sewage to a wet well, which Clarke said is working too.
Public works pumped sewage throughout Tuesday afternoon and the system became backed up in the hours after being overloaded by Tropical Storm Colin waters.
Vacuum trucks dumped the sewage into the city's main pump station to relieve pressure on the system.
Some of the pumped sewage was discharged into Boca Ciega Bay through an underwater pipe. Officials did not give an exact number about how much sewage was released, only saying it was tens of thousands of gallons.
Lowe said while they try to avoid pumping any raw sewage into the bay, it really is the safest way to handle to overloaded system and is better than having an uncontrolled flow going into the streets and storm drains.
The city has notified the Florida Department of Environmental Protection about the discharge into the Bay.