Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Project will redirect Belleair's wastewater

The county is spending $13-million to connect the town to a treatment facility in Seminole.

By NICOLE JOHNSON
Published November 15, 2006

Construction began this week on a 7-mile sewer system that ultimately will move the treatment of Belleair's wastewater out of the town's limits.

The $13-million project will take the town's water to a reclamation center in Seminole, where county's South Cross Bayou water-treatment facility is located.

The project involves construction of three sewer lines. A 16-inch pipe will run along the Pinellas Trail from Seminole to Belleair's existing water treatment plant on Ponce De Leon Boulevard.

A separate main will be built to carry treated water from Seminole back to Belleair to serve golf courses at the Belleair Country Club and Belleview Biltmore Resort and Spa..

A third pipe will run from a county pump station in Largo.

Money from the county's sewer fund will pay for the project, said Kevin Becotte, a division engineer for Pinellas County.

The county has been treating Belleair's wastewater for three years at the Belleair treatment plant. But the facility needs repairs, and bringing it up to Environmental Protection Agency standards would cost millions of dollars, Becotte said.

Typically, the South Cross plant treats 17-million to 23-million gallons of water a day. Belleair wastewater represents an increase of a million gallons a day, Becotte said.

The town's water will continue to be treated at the existing facility until the completion of the new pipeline construction. The project should take about a year.

William Gill, senior engineer on the project, said it is not expected to disrupt pedestrians or motorists. As for Belleair customers, the impact will be minimal as well.

"Most customers won't realize any difference," Becotte said. "It's just the way the wastewater is treated and where it's treated."

[Last modified November 14, 2006, 23:10:53]