News Release
St. Petersburg Crews help clean-up and repair Private Force Main
St. Petersburg. Fla. (June 15, 2018) – Crews from St. Petersburg Water Resources have been working to prevent wastewater from escaping a broken sewer main along 116th Avenue North between Fourth Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street.
St. Petersburg Public Works YouTube Channel Video: https://youtu.be/I0-UwsGswIA
Workers responded to a call from a jogger who noticed “bubbling water” in a grassy area near a private manhole at about 8:30 Thursday, June 14, 2018. Upon arrival, crews detected sewage flowing from the grass into a curb, which led to storm drain that conveys to Leisure Lake.
Using Vactor trucks, City crews have been vacuuming up any effluent escaping from the line – which has been identified as a Private Force Main conveying wastewater from an apartment Complex further north along Fourth Street. That Private main connects with a City Sewer main just a few feet away.
Representatives of the Apartment Complex have indicated that the repair is beyond their capabilities, so Water Resources crews are assisting in coordination of a fix for the fractured pipe.
While an estimated 30 gallons of wastewater made it into the storm drain, the City’s Environmental Compliance Division will test the waters of the nearby lake to ensure there is no negative impact to the waters.
