The City of St. Petersburg expects to receive a new flood protection barrier in early June, with a trial setup scheduled for July.

As hurricane season approaches, St. Petersburg is taking steps to fortify a vital piece of infrastructure against potential storm surge. A 9-foot-tall, 500-foot-long Aquafence will soon be staged at the city’s armory, ready for rapid deployment around a key wastewater lift station near Albert Whitted Airport.

This lift station is crucial to the city’s downtown wastewater system and supports essential facilities, including Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital—making it a linchpin in the city’s disaster recovery efforts.

“This facility would have been destroyed,” said John Palenchar, the city’s water resources director, recalling how last year’s storm nearly flooded the site. “It was lapping at the doors.”

The city’s $600,000 investment in the portable flood barrier was spurred by the success of a similar installation at Tampa General Hospital during Hurricane Helene, which kept storm waters at bay.

“We’re installing a 9-foot Aquafence—9 feet tall, 9 feet wide,” Palenchar said. “It needs a flat, solid surface to properly anchor and seal the structure, preventing water from seeping underneath.”

The barrier will help safeguard the station’s electrical systems, which are essential for moving wastewater from homes and businesses to treatment facilities. Officials say the station handles roughly a quarter of St. Petersburg’s total wastewater flow.

Additional internal flood barriers will be installed inside the Aquafence perimeter for enhanced protection.

Once delivered in June, city crews plan to conduct a full-scale test deployment in July. In the event of a storm threat, the system can be installed in less than a day.

Meanwhile, the city is pursuing other resilience upgrades at its wastewater reclamation sites, including elevating generators and key equipment. However, Palenchar noted that Aquafences aren’t a fit for those locations due to space and terrain limitations.

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(Image credit: WTVT)

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