St. Pete-Clearwater Sun

A dredging operation is underway at Bartlett Lake as the City of St. Pete takes the first step in a broader flood-resilience initiative.

Workers began pulling sediment from the bottom of Bartlett Lake last week to improve water flow to Tampa Bay and increase the lake’s capacity to hold stormwater, according to Engineering and Capital Improvements Director Brejesh Prayman.

The project will remove roughly 23,000 cubic yards of material from the lake — the equivalent of about 2,000 truckloads — significantly expanding its stormwater storage volume.

The $3.5 million dredge is fully funded through state and federal grants and serves as the opening phase of the larger Basin C Resiliency Salt Creek stormwater improvement project, which totals more than $48.5 million and is expected to take several years to complete.

The work is intended to reduce flooding in the Bartlett and Lake Maggiore neighborhoods, areas that saw significant storm damage during hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024.

Crews are using a dredger to extract the sediment and pump it through sediment control systems that separate solids from water, allowing the material to dry before being hauled away. Early concerns that the sediment might contain elevated levels of lead and arsenic — which would have required specialized disposal — have so far not been borne out. Test results show contamination levels low enough for the material to be trucked to a permitted landfill site in the Palmetto area of Manatee County, saving the city money over costlier disposal alternatives.

Prayman said the dredging is expected to be finished by early October, weather permitting. Future phases of the Basin C project include improvements to the Salt Creek channel, a tidal control structure, and a Lake Maggiore stormwater bypass.

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