Tampa council approves $3.4M ditch rehab, hears $10.5M pump-station resiliency plan and short-term generator rollout

The Tampa City Council on Feb. 6 voted to approve a contract to rehabilitate two major stormwater ditches and heard a presentation on short- and mid-term steps to keep pump stations running during storms, including portable generators staged this summer and a proposed $10.5 million resiliency upgrade program.

Council members unanimously approved Item 64, a contract to rehabilitate the 40 Third Street ditch and a ditch near Grady Avenue and Spruce Street. Mobility staff described the work as structural bank stabilization, with concrete-lined banks and bottomwork where needed to stop erosion and extend the system’s useful life. “This is a heavy maintenance project,” Jeff Toposier of the City Stormwater Engineering Division said, adding that the open grass-bank ditches had eroded and were causing slope failures at adjacent industrial property.

Vic Bide of the Mobility Department told council that, as a short-term step, staff has issued a purchase order for $125,000 to Carter Electric to stage portable backup generators at pump stations. “We have 16 pump stations; 14 of them we will stage,” Bide said, and two smaller stations will be supported with auxiliary pumps and hoses. He said…