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Politics & Government

Restoration of Stevenson Creek to Resume

Work dredging the water body is set to start again this month.

T.J. Thompson is eager for work to resume.

Thompson has lived on the north bank of Stevenson Creek since 2000 and is hopeful a project to remove muck from the water could help reduce the smell of the polluted water body.

But the contamination hasn’t kept him from taking his boat out on the water, even if the tides sometimes do.

“We have a small window when we can get out,” Thompson said.

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Soon though, Thompson and others who live near the creek, could enjoy fishing, boating and watching wildlife. After a prolonged standstill, the Stevenson Creek Aquatic Restoration is scheduled to resume work this month.

The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded the contract to remove 105,000 cubic yards of muck and sediment to Paul Howard Construction Company after firing the initial contractor earlier in the year.

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“The goal is to dredge the lower reaches of Stevenson Creek,” said Amanda Ellison a spokeswoman for the Army Corps of Engineers. “Some sandy dredged materials will be returned to the creek to create shoreline mangrove areas, and [the] dredged muck will be trucked to an offsite disposal area.”

The project should be finished by the end of April 2012.

Crews are expected to restore about 27.92 acres of the wetland. The work should improve the habitat for manatees, fish and other wildlife. It also is expected to get rid of the smell many neighbors have become accustomed to.

Ellison said minor improvements will be seen when work starts and full benefits when the project is done.

SEEK Enterprises of Brandon was fired from the project in February, Ellison said. The company wanted more money to complete the work after discovering the creek was more contaminated than first thought, according to a January tampabay.com story. SEEK was unable to complete the project without more money to pay for increased safety and environmental protections, causing the dredging to come to a halt.

SEEK said they were originally uninformed of the water’s toxicity, making it difficult for them to then complete the project under the original terms.

Officials with SEEK did not return phone calls for this story.

Dave and Cindy Odell, who’ve lived on the south side of the water for almost eight years, didn't know about the contamination until after the dredging stopped nearly a year ago.

According to the Odells, the men on the job began getting sick, and had to wear hazmat suits and go through special training to avoid further infection.

“That’s not what they signed up for,” said Dave Odell.

The Odells, whose house is about a block away from the sewage plant responsible for much of the creek's contamination, are anxious for updates.

“They need to at least let us know what’s happening,” said Dave Odell. “That’s the biggest problem I have. If these guys [at the plant] have a spill, they should notify people down the street.”

His wife agreed.

“We haven’t been on the water since we heard it’s infected with E. coli,” said Cindy Odell. “We didn’t even get a letter stating that."

Even with the history of pollution and development there’s still hope for the creek.

Fishing enthusiasts Freddie Harvey and Michael Brown, were fishing off the Overbrook Avenue Bridge recently. They said often they see dolphins swimming up the creek, feeding on mullets before heading back out to sea.

*updated 11:45 a.m. Oct. 20

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