Wastewater

Sewage surveillance is proving so useful in mapping COVID trends that many public health officials say it should become standard practice in tracking infectious diseases. Whether that happens will depend on the nation’s ability to make it viable in communities rich and poor.

Tampa City Council members decided Thursday to go ahead with a plan to design a system that could pipe wastewater that is now dumped into Tampa Bay into the Hillsborough River instead.

It includes several projects across the Tampa Bay region.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said the project will allow the longtime tourism hub to increase its capacity.

An expert said communities could use the data to predict trends in cases.

The water treatment plant in Port Richey couldn't handle high flows from Tropical Storm Elsa.

Bud Howard, the Loxahatchee River Environmental Control District's director of information services, says scientists anticipated a signifiant amount of traces of the virus in the sewage system — and in the community.

Controlled releases of treated water may begin if levels in the ponds at the former phosphate plant continue to rise, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Piney Point's owner is among the targets of the lawsuit, which seeks a full cleanup and closure of the former phosphate plant.

One commissioner said the well is a better option than having millions more gallons of wastewater dumped into Tampa Bay.

Officials say the wastewater being released into Tampa Bay is not radioactive, but it does contain a lot of nutrients that can fuel algal blooms. Scientists say it will take time to see if damage occurred.

It's partly attributed to cars on the numerous bridges in the area that are helping to feed algae blooms.