News & Public Affairs

FDEP to Fine Pinellas for Wastewater Violations at Landfill listen

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Tags: Pinellas Board of County Commissioners, wastewater, Tom Crandall, Pinellas Trail, Waste to Energy

Today, Pinellas County agreed to pay the Florida Department of Environmental Protection five thousand dollar fine. The fine is penalty for pumping polluted water from a landfill into nearby surface water bodies. The county is also on the hook for more than twenty-six million dollars in upgrades to prevent this from happening again.

It was the height of the 2009 rainy season. The water level in Pond A at the [Bridgeway Acres Lan...

Tampa City Council considers wastewater options listen

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Tags: Tampa City Council, wastewater

Today the Tampa City Council set a workshop to explore options for how the city’s treated wastewater will be used. 55 million gallons of the water is dumped into Tampa Bay every day. Council member John Dingfelder opposes treating it to be used as drinking water.

But others on the council, including Charlie Miranda, are interested in exploring all options with the water. Miranda held up a flask of discolored water and threatened to run for County Commission.

Dingfelder asked Tampa’s adm...

Wastewater rates to rise in Tampa listen

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Tags: Tampa City Council, wastewater, sewer fees

Mayor Pam Iorio's administration wants to raise sewer rates for Tampa citizens dramatically over the next three years.

Finance Director Bonnie Wise came before the Tampa City Council this morning, where she said rates would need to increase by 34 percent over the next five years. The rate increase would hit hard initially, with a 14½ percent increase next year, followed by a 12 percent increase in 2011, and 8 percent in 2012.

Asked if the increase could be spread out more evenly over th...