The Brief
- Sarasota County held a ribbon-cutting on Friday for the Bee Ridge Advanced Wastewater Treatment.
- The project brought more than $250 million worth of upgrades.
- Upgrades to the system were jump started by a lawsuit from Suncoast Waterkeeper in which a federal court order called for the system upgrades.
SARASOTA, Fla. – The process underway in Sarasota County turns wastewater into something useful by reducing the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus from reclaimed water.
Sarasota County has been working on improving that process at its Bee Ridge facility for the past several years.
It’s something environmentalists have been eager to see.
The ribbon-cutting symbolized more than $250 million worth of upgrades, transforming the Bee Ridge Wastewater Treatment Facility to an Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility.
“Not only are we converting it to advanced wastewater treatment standards, we are actually doubling the capacity. We are going from 12 to 18 million gallons a day in treatment capacity,” said Brooke Bailey, the public utilities director for Sarasota County.
Why it matters:…