Thanks Bill; I am a very squeaky wheel; I have a home in DC and I am in contact with our DC council members and Mayor often. How do I get in contact with the Mayor of St. Pete's.

Best,
Jen

We have forwarded your complaint to the Water Resources department so that they may investigate and take any necessary action. The St Petersburg City Council may be reached via email at Council@stpete.org, and the Mayor may be reached at Mayor@stpete.org.

My plans for working out in my yard yesterday were ruined as the odor made me sick to my stomach. 20 year resident here. Many complaints submitted... Nothing. Ever. Done. - they don't care.

It has been an issue for about 15 years. I was treasurer way back and we met with city council at the plant and were promised changes back then. Got a little better but never solved the problem. Bill is right, they don't live here so they don't care.

Thanks folks; the more that reply to my post the better sense I am getting. I have emailed the mayor, public works director and city council a very strong email letting them know the voluminous publications from peer reviewed medical journals on the health issue these gases pose. I will continue to ping them to get a sense of their urgency to this issue.

Thank you for reporting this issue. Water Reclamation plants are naturally odorous. Millions of dollars of equipment is invested at Southwest sewage treatment facility. This was built in the 1950’s. In an effort to reduce odor, we have future odor reducing projects in the works. However, as
with every existing sewage treatment plant in Florida and the nation, unfortunately we do not anticipate ever
being able to totally eliminate odors drifting offsite.
When this plant was originally constructed, it was isolated and far from residential
neighborhoods. Since then, Eckerd College, residential neighborhoods, and retail business
have moved in and surrounded the plant site. We recognize that the development of homes
so close to our sewage plant requires us to be even more diligent in our efforts at reducing
odors, even if we cannot eliminate them entirely.
SWWRF, a state of the art facility, is a unique plant that converts sewage into natural gas.
Whenever possible we plan maintenance that can potentially cause unpleasant odors during the very early hours of the morning and during weekdays. Other projects are communicated to the NextDoor Neighborhood App, Neighborhood Association and Eckerd College representatives with up-to-date information.

It is our goal at Water Resources to inform residents, as much as possible, of any potential impact projects have on the surrounding neighborhood. The smell does not impose any health risk. We appreciate your understating and patience while we do our best to reduce odors.

Wow that was a slap in the face from the city wasn't it?????

It always is

Eight years ago, Mike Connors developed this big plan to shut down the downtown plant and combine that sewer with the SW plant. The city comment “When this plant was originally constructed, it was isolated and far from residential neighborhoods” does not hold any weight eight years ago when they doubled down on the stink coming from the SW plant.

We really don’t care if you make natural gas as well as spent millions of dollars on a so call state of the art facility (with open top tanks) when we have to deal the stink on an almost daily basis. Many urban facilities cover all their tanks but not St. Petersburg. The community was in an uproar on Mike Connors’ plan and the city had the opportunity to reverse the decision instead of spending more millions. Nothing was done and Claude Tankersley from Manatee County replaced Mike Connor and the Mayor was re-elected even though he approved the Mike Connors’ failed plan.

Dear WR Customer Relations-

Your response falls far short for many reasons and I especially like who ever wrote this response did not have the courage to leave their name. I guess I would not want to leave my name on a response like this either because it's not sincere or reflects any sensitivity to the safety risk at hand. Rather it's a response that just tries to kick the can down the road.

I do not believe I ever said the smell was a health risk; however, the chronic low levels of sewage gas being expelled for an extended period of time are responsible for the smells. We inhale this gas day after day after day (ie, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and more); the gases are the health risk not the smell.

These gases are irritants to the gastrointestinal tract, eyes, nose and mouth even at low levels in a chronic exposure manner; anything longer than 7 days is chronic. I have experienced these and so too have others in the Maximo Mooring neighborhood. I encourage you to send me all the data you have which show no risk with these gases; based on your statement it sounds as if you have studied this and I would like to see the data.

Just because a water plant was built in the 50's does not get a free pass on keeping the air we breathe safe in 2021. Rather the water plant should be making improvements each year to lower the risk until the risk is removed. From my research, there are several things your water plant could do to try to eliminate the odors and which have been successful across other neighborhoods in the US with similar issues and where the government wanted their community to have safe air to breathe. The examples are plentiful if some one would make this a priority. I mean come on, we can build a fancy pier, but no way will we give Maximo Moorings community clean air free of noxious gases.

The one statement above I agree with from your otherwise non-response is: "it is the responsibility of the water plant to be diligent on eliminating this issue". I would imagine federal agencies will agree with this too.

I would like to receive a reply from you with bold ideas on how this can be fixed, a response showing how concern you are for our safety versus an email that will let me know when to expect the noxious gas in my neighborhood. This does not alleviate my concerns. To me this is really a non-response lacking any sensitivity to the safety issue at hand and telling the community to just accept the water plant has no intention of fixing this issue. Negligent in another term I could use. If you really are bold enough to say- we will never get this fixed for you, then say it versus sending such a circular response.

Next time you respond, please be brave enough to attach your name.

Best,
Dr. Jennifer DiGiacinto

Thank you Dr. DiGiacinto. I, and many others, have also suggested they implement methods the other plants have successfully used, and have made requests for ideas and solutions, to no avail. They have done just as you said - kicked the can down the road. Same responses, time after time - and it never gets better.

You are welcome Gooch; I am sure many community members have tried, but this is typical small city bureaucratic bs.

I am a former federal regulator, and I have been able to move the needle with the DC Mayor, DC police department and DC council men and women on safety issues in the past I expected the tepid response from St. Pete's. We have it in writing now, that's our first win. It's so funny how they copy and paste identical responses from years ago. SMH.

I wanted to get a sense of their urgency factor which is barely palpable; sent emails to the city council and to the mayor and have yet to receive any acknowledgement in return; definitely not a sign of any sort of engagement or care.

We are in the first inning of a very long game that will likely run over the typical 9 innings, but I have contacts within federal agencies and local and cable news. I will use all my tactics eventually I am sure because this government would rather be complacent with respect to our safety and health versus working for their constituents.

For others who read this and have run into the same road blocks, please share any correspondences or efforts that have not been taken seriously or you have received these template responses that the water plant has been sending for double digit years. It takes a village and I know the community of Maximo Moorings is fed up and has countless of examples how their requests went unanswered. Please share these with me.

Best,
Jen

Hi Jen, i wish that you could count on ALL of Maximo Moorings to help but it has been my experience that the only ones that care are the immediate recipients of the odor such as you on 37th st, me on 38th way and maybe 39th in the 5100 and 5200 blks. Most others never smell it so never complain so never want to get involved. As I said I was treasurer for over 10 years 15 years ago and it has always been an issue. I hope you can help solve it and you can count on me to help. Just let me know. John Colello.

I think we need to find a person that can get the Governor's attention as the people in Manatee county did but again, 600 homes in Maximo, 100 homes that care. He is the best thing that has happened to Florida and He is the one that can override the incompetents we have running the city.
John Colello

The Alliance for Bayway Communities (aka ABC) and Eckerd College's President and its VPs were heavily against what the city was doing with the SW Plant in 2014 but lost interest when the city did not budge. They could return to help since promises were never kept regarding the smell. It is not just Maximo Moorings. It will blow across the canal to Broadwater and Bayway Isle. I cannot imagine what it is like at Eckerd College and the embarrassment they may feel when parents are around on move in day or graduation when the SW plant rears its ugly head.

Thanks John and Bill. Very much appreciate your input and filling in the blanks for me. I am very encouraged about Eckerd College's President and that other Bayway Communities were heavily against this plant in 2014 and I can most certainly reach out to see if they have the motivation to help again. I would think there is a wide spread contamination of air across this area, we may be few in MM but combined with the other communities, it's a much larger number.

I have sent the Mayor an email and still waiting for a reply from him. I am a former federal regulator and I have lots of contacts within other key federal agencies that are willing to help. I put one in motion last evening and will just leave it there.

If you have any suggestions on how to speak with Mayor Rick, I would love to hear.

Jen

John- Sorry I misread your post; if you have any suggestions on how to speak with Governor DeSantis, I am open to speaking with him as well.

Jen

Email the Governor at GovernorRon.Desantis@eog.myflorida.com

googled this
Contact Governor DeSantis
Office of Governor Ron DeSantis
State of Florida
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Email the Governor at GovernorRon.Desantis@eog.myflorida.com

(850) 717-9337

For more immediate service, please include email address with your letter or phone call. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.

To submit specific requests:

Email Governor DeSantis

Request the Governor and First Lady to attend your event

Photo Requests

Request Courtesy Letter/Recognition Letter

Request a Proclamation

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Request Public Records

Hi Jen, Last Name is Mellon and my number is in the MM Directory. Call me and I fill you in on the history. Bill

Hi Guys-

I sent the email to that address (ie, looked it up on google) earlier this morning. :-)

Bill- I will look you up and give you a call.

Jen

Bill- I left you a voice mail- (202) area code. Call me back at your convenience.

Jen

Hi Jen, Did not get the message. 727-867-4380. Bill

Thanks to all of you; perhaps we can create our own platform elsewhere to all stay in touch about this along with the others that do care. You can email me at laurieatadvanced@gmail.com if you wish, or call/text 727-504-3723.

Great idea Laurie. I will email you tomorrow.

Best,
jen

Issue 9692954 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue.

There sure are a lot of duplicates on this issue! Would be nice to see some Action from the Mayor's Action Center!

I have emailed the mayors office and still awaiting a reply! Sending us to the water plant for any action is not resulting in any resolution. It’s time Mayor Rick steps in!

Dr. Jennifer DiGiacinto

Hi Dr. . That sounds good but Mayor will not do a thing. He is leaving office soon and won't want to get involved. I hope I am wrong but...

Hi John, Can you give me a call. 727-867-4380. Bill

Update from Water Resources: staff have been in communication with the original complainant and there is no further comment to add to the conversation at this time. To reiterate, it is the goal of Water Resources to inform residents, as much as possible, of any potential impact that projects could have on the surrounding neighborhood. We appreciate the continued understating and patience while we do our best to mitigate impact from the reported facility.

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