The Southwest Florida Water Management District and the City of St. Petersburg are working together on a project that will reduce flooding in the Childs Park neighborhood, located near 44th St. South.
During heavy rain the neighborhood experiences street flooding because the existing drainage system is outdated and undersized.
This project is part of a 1994 stormwater management master plan developed by the city and involves constructing a major “trunk” line from 11th Avenue South to 13th Avenue South.
Many stormwater systems are arranged on a “trunk” and “branch” basis, like the structure of a tree. In the case of Childs Park, the local drainage system in the streets will serve as the branches that collect stormwater runoff from the homes, driveways, sidewalks and streets. This runoff is then directed to larger branches where it is combined with runoff from other local branches. Eventually the runoff from the local branches is combined into trunk lines which are large pipes and culverts used to direct the runoff to the rivers, lakes and the gulf.
The project also involves installing a stormwater pollution prevention unit that will improve water quality by removing oil, grease, trash and other sediment from surface water runoff, which will help improve water quality discharging from the new system.
This multi-year project is estimated to cost up to $3.4 million. Funding is divided evenly between the Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board and St. Petersburg. It is expected to be complete by June 2010.
Storm water is water that flows over land during and immediately after a rainstorm. The Environmental Protection Agency has identified stormwater runoff as our most serious water quality problem today. Pollutants associated with stormwater runoff include sediment, nutrients, heavy metals, oils, greases, pesticides and bacteria. Without proper treatment in developed areas, these pollutants in runoff adversely impact the quality of the receiving water.