City Administrator Eric Olson last week told the Pensacola City Council the groundwater cleanup at the site of Corrine Jones-Government St. stormwater pond was scheduled to begin soon. The necessary clean-up equipment is now on site, three months after the Escambia Board of County Commissioners voted to contribute $200,000 towards the effort.
A National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) grant was originally intended to fund the Corrine Jones-Government Street project. Mayor Ashton Hayward announced the grant in Nov. 2013. The city council accepted the grant in the March 2014. Then, the mayor’s office made the decision to expand the size of the pond.
The cost of the project ballooned to over $3 million. The additional expense has been covered by $1.1 million in BP oil spill restoration money and $113,850 from the city’s stormwater utility fund.
The larger pond also caused contaminated groundwater from the nearby closed county mosquito control facility to be drawn to the project site, which led to the necessary clean-up operation.
Olson told the Council he expects the project to be completed by the summer of 2017, two years later than the original estimated completion date.