{"id":4303,"date":"2025-10-15T08:03:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T08:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/4303\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T08:03:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T08:03:39","slug":"st-pete-launches-homeowner-sewer-line-rebate-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/4303\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Pete launches homeowner sewer line rebate program"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014\u00a0The City of St. Petersburg launched a private lateral rehabilitation rebate program<\/a> on Monday which covers the entire cost for eligible homeowners to replace their leaky sewer lines with PVC piping.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

Phase 1 covers the entire cost for eligible homeowners to replace their leaky sewer lines
\n
Phase 2 will launch in October 2026 and covers up to $5,000
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The city has a $500,000 fund for the 32,000 properties which could be eligible during phase 1\u00a0
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A 2019 pilot study led to the innovative program<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe city will cover the full cost of inspections and rebates for phase 1 properties,\u201d said Kira Barrera, St. Pete Water Resources Special Projects Coordinator. \u201cFor phase 2\u2026 those properties are eligible for up to a $5,000 rebate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phase 2 will launch in October 2026.<\/p>\n

Barrera said the average cost to replace a private leaky lateral is about $5,000. The old sewer lines are made of Orangeburg or cast iron and were installed in homes built across the city from the 1950s to 1970s, according to Barrera.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe phase 1 area of the program is really targeting those areas that we\u2019ve identified as having a lot of leaks, lots of groundwater and stormwater getting into the system,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know that based on the age of the property, the elevation and then our flow monitoring data that we collect in the sewer system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infiltration\u00a0during storms\u00a0can lead to manhole overflows, backups, and damage to homes and infrastructure. Fixing private laterals helps protect homes, improves neighborhood infrastructure, and lowers city-wide treatment costs, according to St. Petersburg Public Works.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program benefits both homeowners and the City,\u201d said Claude Tankersley, Public Works Administrator. \u201cIt\u2019s a key part of our long-term strategy to build a more resilient, efficient, and sustainable wastewater system for all of St. Pete.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a $500,000 fund for the 32,000 properties which could be eligible during phase 1 of this fiscal year, according to Barrera. The money will be doled out on a first come, first serve basis and replenished the following year.<\/p>\n

Barrera said a 2019 pilot study led to the innovative program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really exciting. To my knowledge, nobody else in the country has ever conducted a pilot study to really measure the benefits to the utility and the public,\u201d she said. \u201cBased on the pilot study data, we would see up to a 34 percent reduction in inflow and infiltration as a result of the private lateral program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barrera said when coupled with the replacement Public Works has made to the public sewer lines the reduction rate goes up to 64 percent.<\/p>\n

The city is funding the program with money it would\u2019ve had to otherwise pay in fines to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for wastewater spills. Nearly a decade ago, the city was placed under a DEP consent order after discharging 1 billion gallons of wastewater from 2015 to 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re using non-utility rate dollars,\u201d said Barrera. \u201cThose fines that we would have incurred because of the consent order and we applied them to a pollution prevention project.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city has also used the fund to purchase\u00a0a $640,000\u00a0AquaFence\u00a0to protect Lift Station 85 in downtown. Water Resources Director John Palenchar said the city has nearly finalized the consent order.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have completed all elements but are still finalizing the consent order closeout documentation for in-kind projects that we had in lieu of penalties,\u201d he said. \u201cWe anticipate the final closeout documentation being sent to DEP by August. After that, it will be in DEP\u2019s hands when they send us the closeout letter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city has CIP funding to pay for two years of the program and has been exploring additional grants to fund it for up to 10 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014\u00a0The City of St. Petersburg launched a private lateral rehabilitation rebate program on Monday which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[2968,115,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,835],"class_list":["post-4303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-josh-rojas","tag-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}