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The second fluid headed "down the hole" will be excess treated wastewater from the sew- age plant. This water is commonly used for irrigation, and it is an increasingly valuable resource. However, during the normal summer rainy season, there is less need for irrigation. Then the city sends the treated wastewater east for so-called "spray-field irrigation." But some- times the fields out east are inundated and unable to accept more water. When that is the case, the treated wastewater is routed into the bay. That marks a full-circle return to the "1911 solution" — dump it into the bay. However, the new deep-well injection system has been designed with sufficient capacity to accept the summertime overflow of treated wastewater, thus ending all discharge into Sarasota Bay from the city's utilities. It puts an end to what Thompson considered his biggest municipal challenge, although more than a decade after he died. Thompson is quoted in Sarasota County historian Jeff LaHurd's The Rise of Sarasota: "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." In 330 days, that problem should be solved. All will not be perfect, though. Sarasota County is responsible for stormwater, and none of that receives treatment; what does not soak into the soil ends up in the bay. The county is now trying "low-impact develop- ment" along ditches and swales to create a natural impoundment of pollutants before they reach the bay. % Manuel R. Chepote, LUTCF Chepote Insurance Inc. 1300 Main Street • Sarasota, Florida (941) 366-0100 Serving Sarasota & Manatee Counties agents.allstate.com/manuel-r-chepote-sarasota-fl.html Click for driving directions Auto • Home • Life Renters • Motorcycles Flood • Business • Annuities Financial Services Sarasota News Leader February 7, 2014 Page 53