ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A $70 million project to elevate critical equipment at the Northeast Water Reclamation Facility in St. Petersburg has been fast-tracked for completion after last year’s back-to-back hurricanes forced it to shut down for the first time, according to Public Works Administrator Claude Tankersley.
“So we started on this project in 2022, with the intention of finishing it in 2026,” he said. “Because we had the storm last summer, we really wanted to find a way to get it finished earlier. We’re shooting for Aug. 1.”
The project calls for five concrete platforms to be built at a base elevation of 11 feet above sea level. The critical equipment will then be moved on top of those platforms, four of which will have fully enclosed buildings. The open-air platform, which is also the largest, will elevate the sewer plants’ backup power supply.
“Each one of these pads will hold a separate generator,” said Tankersley. “These generators will power the entire plant when we no longer have Duke power.”
The plant had to be shut down for the first time last September when Hurricane Helene sent a 6.3 foot storm surge into St. Petersburg. Tankersley said it was de-energized for 22 hours. It was taken offline again two weeks later for 12 hours when Hurricane Milton was coming ashore due to a projected storm surge of up to 15 feet.
“It’s very stressful and it is the last thing we want to do. However, if we didn’t shut down the plants and the water had hit that electrical equipment, then instead of being out for 12 to 24 hours, we would have lost these plants for weeks,” he said. “So it was it was a decision that was painful to make, but it was the right decision to make.”
Tankersley wants to do as much as he can do to mitigate the plant as fast as possible. Earlier this month, the St. Petersburg City Council approved $2 million for waterproof coating and flood barriers for doors. The public works administrator said he plans to ask for money to elevate the operational building in a couple of years to an elevation of 15 feet, which was Milton’s maximum storm surge prediction.
“If we get another Milton, we’re at least protected up to that 15 feet,” he said. “So we’re looking at how we can do that.”