The City of St. Petersburg will receive $20.4 million from the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection's Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection to mitigate flooding and increase service reliability through the improvement of city infrastructure.

The city plans to utilize $11.57 million "to mitigate stormwater flooding at Lake Maggiore in the Salt Creek basin." Of these funds, $10.67 million will be allocated for Basin C Resilience Salt Creek Outfall Pump Station project and $900,000 will be used for the Basin C Resilience Salt Creek Conveyance Improvements project.

The Southwest Water Reclamation Facility from above. | Photo via the City of St. Petersburg

The remaining $8.87 million will be allocated for building replacements with the goal of increasing service reliability and safety. Approximately $4.76 million will be used to replace the Southwest Water Reclamation Facility and $4.11 million will be used to replace the Northeast Water Reclamation Facility.

Additionally, the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection has allocated $750,000 for St. Pete Beach's Community Center Shoreline Rehabilitation project.

St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch stressed the importance of updating the city's framework.

"Investing in improvements that upgrade aging infrastructure is a top priority for my administration," he said in the release. "These types of opportunities help to strengthen St. Pete's framework and systems."

The infrastructure projects align with St. Pete's Water Plan. The 20-year plan is addressing St. Pete's aging water infrastructure. Since 2015, the city has invested about $2 billion to operate, maintain, and repair aging infrastructure