A St. Petersburg lawmaker is proposing a bill to tackle wastewater and sewage spill concerns. This is because Floridians are all too familiar with the devastating impacts of storm surge and flood waters.

Now, a new piece of legislation aims to address sewage and wastewater needs across the state.

With the legislative session just around the corner, anticipation is building as a wave of bills begins to surge through the process. One particular bill is diving into wastewater concerns in Tampa Bay and beyond.

In an effort to address sewage spills and upgrade wastewater infrastructure, a Tampa Bay state lawmaker is pushing for action.

“We hear too frequently about sewage spills happening in our treasured water bodies, and many of these facilities were built decades ago,” said State Rep. Lindsay Cross, D-St. Petersburg.

Pipes crack, infrastructure breaks, and pollution repeatedly makes its way into our waters. Cross wants to help streamline a path forward and hold the state accountable.

“This is just a targeted way for us to understand where we should be investing as a state to help our local communities and really get a holistic view of the state of our infrastructure, understanding how these septic spills and failing infrastructure contribute to dirty water and impact our natural environment as well as our tourism,” Cross said.

House Bill 861 would have the Florida State Department of Environmental Protection create a list of wastewater facilities detailing their proximity to flood zones and past spills. Officials said that list would let the state enhance and improve each wastewater plant as needed.

“The bottom line is the more effective our wastewater treatment plants are, the less pollution we get in our waterways,” J.P. Brooker said. “That curbs things like harmful algal blooms, such as red tide, some of the fish kills we’ve been seeing, and the loss of other wildlife in critical places like Tampa Bay.”

Advocating for the policy change is J.P. Brooker, Director of Florida Conservation, Ocean Conservancy. He said policy interventions like this will do a lot in the future.

“Here on the bay, we look at Tampa Bay, we look at the Gulf all the time, and we want to see that beautiful water,” Brooker said. “When it’s tainted with red tide, with fish kills like we’ve seen in recent years, that really affects our way of life, and it really affects the bottom line of our economy in the Tampa Bay region. So, keeping that water healthy and clean is of paramount importance to us.”

The bill was refiled this year after being introduced during last year’s legislative session.

Cross said she hopes to empower the legislature to improve the resources we have here in the state.

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