Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/256534
Less than one year from now, the City of Sarasota will achieve a dream decades in the making. In about 330 days, a politician will cut a ribbon, an engineer will throw a switch and the city will stop discharging anything into Sarasota Bay — no treated sewage, no reclaimed wastewa- ter, no brine from the reverse osmosis plant, no byproducts of the city's drinking water and sanitary sewer util- ities. Nada. Since Ken Thompson started work as city m a n a g e r i n 1 9 5 0 , officials have been d r e a m i n g , p l o t t i n g a n d p l a n n i n g h o w t o r e d u c e t h e b a y discharge. In what could be a gigantic Christmas gift for the Sarasota Bay is popular spot with boaters as well as fishermen. Photo by Norman Schimmel THE CITY OF SARASOTA IS APPROACHING A WATER AND SEWER SYSTEM MILESTONE THE 'ZERO-DISCHARGE ZONE' Our biggest problem is to whip our wastewater system into line; especially the sewer pipes so they don't overflow when we have heavy rains. Ken Thompson Longtime Sarasota City Manager In The Rise of Sarasota By Jeff LaHurd By Stan Zimmerman City Editor