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[[Image:MainStreetSewagePlant.jpg|thumb|right]]
The '''Main Street Wastewater Treatment Plant''' is an 18-acre sewage treatment facility operated by the [[Emerald Coast Utilities Authority]]. Dating back to [[1937]], it is was located north of [[Main Street]] between [[Clubbs Street|Clubbs]] and [[De Villiers Street]]s, and its proximity to [[Pensacola Bay]] makes made it extremely vulnerable to storms. After sustaining serious damage from a 15-foot [[storm surge]] during [[Hurricane Ivan]], the resulting three-day outage energized discussions to move the plant. The estimated $300 million cost of such a move (ameliorated by a $134 million grant from the [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]]) has caused a great deal of controversy, and the plant was often cited in the debate over the [[Community Maritime Park]]. A 330-acre site off [[Chemstrand Road]], formerly owned by [[Solutia]], was chosen as the new site of the plant.
==History==
The Main Street plant was one of two constructed between [[1935]]-and [[1937]], ; the other one was located on [[9th Avenue]] at [[Intendencia Street]]. The sites were chosen for their low elevation, a requirement of the era's gravity-powered sewer system. Both plants provided only "primary treatment" — that is, separating solids from liquids — before depositing the waste into [[Pensacola Bay]]. This remained the case even after a major expansion in the 1950s.
The 9th Avenue plant, the source of many complaints by visitors to the nearby [[Admiral Mason Park]], was shut down in the in the mid-60s, replaced with a force main to redirect sewage to the newly-expanded Main Street plant. It was formally dedicated the '''Central Sewage Treatment Plant''' by the [[City of Pensacola]] in [[1968]].
The plant received a $20 million expansion in the 1970s that more than doubled its maximum capacity to the current 20 million gallons. Management was taken over by the [[ECUA]] in [[1981]].
After sustaining serious damage from a 15-foot [[storm surge]] during [[Hurricane Ivan]] in [[September]] [[2004]], the resulting three-day outage energized discussions to move the plant. The estimated $300 million cost of such a move (ameliorated by a $134 million grant from the [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]]) has caused a great deal of controversy, and the plant was often cited in the debate over the [[Community Maritime Park]].
The plant was taken offline on [[April 28]], [[2011]]; demolition commenced in September of that year. A 330-acre site off [[Chemstrand Road]] in [[Cantonment]], formerly owned by [[Solutia]], was chosen as the new site of the plant.
==References==
