You can't USE that water, but it's okay for us to DUMP it

I wanted to call double-plus-good attention to the article in this morning's newspaper by my colleague Nicole Hutcheson. Several days a week, the city of St. Petersburg is sending trucks down to the southern end of the city, opening the fire hydrants, and letting them gush most of the day into the bay. This is wasting about 30-million gallons a month.

This is not just a little bleeding of the lines -- it's a six-or seven-hour flood that fills the streets. You can't cross it in your shoes -- I've seen folks back their car out the driveway to be able to cross the street. Here's a link to a video taken by our staff; I hope you'll take an extra few seconds to check it out.

The purpose of all this is to flush the city's water pipes. This is happening at the southern tip of Pinellas County, which is sort of a dead zone where the water otherwise would grow stagnant. Still, it's pretty ironic that it's illegal for the residents to use this water to irrigate their lawns. We're in a drought, you know! (Sometimes some of the neighbors go out with buckets, grab some water and water their gardens.]

I wonder what the governors of Georgia and Alabama would think if they saw this video? [Times photos | Lara Cerri]

Comments

[20/20]

The southern tip of Pinellas is indeed a “dead zone” in the system. The flushing is necessary due to the high levels of biohazards and ficoll coliform, as a result of what I believe to be one of the most sinister scams pulled in Pinellas County in the last 3-decades; surrendering control over of our water resources, well fields, and resource management to Tampa Bay Water.

As a result of that action, we now have a lack of consistency in our water’s blend, (ie; groundwater, desal, and surface water) and it is difficult to maintain compliance with safe drinking water standards. Pinellas County taps on the door of mandatory “Boil Water” alerts every day. This is why we conduct “chlorine burns” throughout the system. This is also the primary reason for the push to build a “second” blending facility of our own, located in Pinellas County.

Having said all that: a failure to devise a plan of action in order that we may recover this water for use in pesticide trucks, watering trucks, ect… is unacceptable. And yet another example of the dangers of our leadership making decisions based on politics rather than experts advice and guidance.