In a situation gone from good to much worse, the waters of Tampa Bay had been restored to nearly 1950s cleanliness but have lately suffered continued pollution hits due in part to Pinellas County’s frequent sewage spills. Pinellas County has much more than its share of incidents, too often caused from infrastructure failure and human incompetence.
The story below is heartening. Our thanks go to WaterKeepers everywhere and especially the Suncoast WaterKeeper.
This might be a good place to mention the Santa Fe River’s protector, which falls under the Suwanee WaterKeeper, John Quarterman. Mr. Quarterman is a man of indefatigable action. He has also engaged in lawsuits, writes incessantly for WWALS, monitors the waterways, and speaks at countless meetings. He has been doing this for years and years.
WaterKeepers in general do the work that our often-useless water protecting agencies are supposed to do but don’t. In Florida, at least, the DEP and the water management districts work harder at protecting the polluters than saving our rivers and springs. They give lip service and spend money but little progress is made.
Read this original article and much more at this link in the Observer.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
It was a classic David vs. Goliath scenario. After recurring sewage spills leaked untold millions of gallons of wastewater from the city of St. Petersburg’s outdated infrastructure into neighborhoods and local waters, Suncoast Waterkeeper stepped in and filed a citizens lawsuit against the city under the auspices of the Clean Water Act. Filed in December 2016, the suit insisted that St. Petersburg take more aggressive measures to fix its beleaguered sewage systems. Suncoast Waterkeeper was joined in the action by two other environmental activist groups, Our Children’s Earth and EcoRights.
City government’s reaction?
“A mixture of anger, incredulity and shame — but the shame was not public,” said Justin Bloom, Suncoast Waterkeeper’s founder. “‘Who’s this little community group suing over how we manage our utility?’ At one point at a city council meeting, one councilman labeled us environmental terrorists. They decided to fight us hard.”
For two years, Bloom and his team of six environmental attorneys that he assembled from around the country fought back with equal vigor — with the law on their side. After a series of court rulings in favor of the plaintiff, in October 2018 the two parties settled. The city agreed to step up improvements to its sewage system, as well as pay $200,000 to the Tampa Bay Estuary Program to be used to benefit local ecosystems. The city also had to cover the environmentalists’ legal bills.
The settlement far exceeded the prior agreement struck between St. Petersburg and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. That accord, known as a “consent order,” was “wholly inadequate,” Bloom said. Suncoast Waterkeeper has been monitoring St. Petersburg’s efforts to make upgrades. Bloom feels the city is acting in good faith. “Once they agreed to the terms of the settlement, they brought in a consulting engineer to help them with compliance,” he said.
In the year since, Suncoast Waterkeeper has sued four more municipalities over similar issues. In these instances, the defendants responded differently. “After our major victory, where we won rulings from federal judges, it became very clear that we were serious, so subsequent [defendants] focused on settling, cooperating with us to find an environmentally responsible way forward. We’ve been pleased with the results.”
