Does the Kriseman Administration see Florida’s aquifer as a toilet to flush the City’s waste into?
St. Petersburg, Fl
Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb PhD
Author: In Search of Robin, So You Want to Blog.
Following Hurricane IRMA the City of St. Petersburg
quietly flushed 15.5 million gallons of partially treated sewage down injection
wells at the City’s Northeast wastewater treatment plant.
More details in
this article by Charlie Frago, Tampa Bay Times Staff Writer: St.
Pete comes clean on sewage flushed underground after Irma
Kriseman indicated he “did not know until recently”
that the partially treated sewage had been flushed into Florida’s aquifer. No
definition of recently.
Steve Kornell brought the situation to light in a
Facebook post:
YOU BE THE JUDGE:
Bill Logan, the PR person hired for our Water Resources Department issued a
statement that included the following:
"Hurricane
Irma brought even more rain in September, and even though the system was pushed
again, there were no major issues."
While there were not discharges into the bay, we did
discharge 20 million gallons of less than full treated water into our injection
wells, on 9-11-2017. This is a violation of FDEP regulations and requires a report to be filed with the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection.
In addition,
there was a discharge of 423,000 gallons reject effluent from the Northeast
Sewer plant on 9-11-2017. Report # 2107-7224
I'll let you be
the judge of whether or not these were "major issues" and in all
fairness it did happen during a hurricane. I just want you to have full and
complete information.
Kornell also said,
"I understand
that during a hurricane, these kinds of things can happen. But we should always
be completely and 100 percent honest with the public," he said Wednesday.
"Saying there were no major problems and then having this one and not
telling people? I don't see why we continue to do that sort of thing. It's
ludicrous."
District
69 House of Representatives Kathleen Peters who cosponsored Senate Bill 1018,
which requires reporting pollution releases within 24 hours to the State was livid with the
Kriseman Administration. See more in: Mitch Perry, Florida Politics: Kathleen Peters blasts Rick Kriseman
administration after most recent sewage spill
Acting
Water Resources Director John Palenchar stepped up like a good soldier and took
the blame for not following the law and notifying the public saying, “We should
have circled back and closed the loop on that, it’s my fault.
Once
again, we see the complete lack of common sense in the Kriseman administration.
Somebody
blew the whistle and Kriseman, and all his “spokespeople” got caught with their
collective pants down.
This
whole issue brings up an even bigger point.
The
City is adding more injection wells at its wastewater treatment plants, and the
public is at the complete whims of the administration as to what is pumped down
them. Flip a couple of switches, turn a couple of valves and all that bad stuff
just disappears.
Unless
integrity and responsibility are demanded from the top (Mayor’s Office) all the
way to the injection well the public as no assurance that any administrative
staff member will do the right thing.
From
the very outset of his administration, Kriseman has taken the alley cat
approach to the integrity and responsibility of the Mayor’s office. From his
questionable cronies to his lies, and failure to respect the public views and
input, it seems obvious that he has created an atmosphere that encourages his
subordinates to make their decisions in the Mayor’s interest in contrast to the
public’s interest.
It is time to return integrity and common sense to City
Hall. To have a leader who leads and motivates his administration to do what is
right.
E-mail Doc at mail to: dr.gwebb@yahoo.com or send me a Facebook (E. Eugene Webb) Friend request. Be sure
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See Doc's Photo
Gallery at Bay Post Photos.
Disclosures:
Contributor to Rick Baker for Mayor
Campaign
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