ST. PETE BEACH — Repeatedly overflowing sewers here are forcing city officials to give up pet projects in order to raise the nearly $14 million needed to fix their clogged and broken sewer pipes.

Among those endangered projects are a new library and park improvements. Also endangered are any hotel, condominium or residential developments exceeding the sewer system's overloaded capacity.

"When you have sewers backing up into the streets and into people's homes, that is what you have to address first," City Manager Wayne Saunders told city commissioners during a recent budget discussion.

Meanwhile, sewer pipes along Gulf Boulevard serving the city's hotel row are virtually nonexistent and ready to crumble.

"The only reason the existing pipe is still together is because of the gunk that is in them," says Public Services Director Mike Clarke, who quickly adds that he doesn't "fear any of them will collapse tomorrow."

However, he and Saunders, as well as sewer system consultants from the Tampa-based Kimley-Horn engineering firm, are pressing the commission to set aside $3.5 million to complete immediately needed repairs in the next two years.

Then, according to the consultants' recently completed sewer system capacity study, up to another $10 million will be needed to effectively rebuild the entire 49-mile length of sewer pipes.

And even then, there is no clear answer as to how much if any extra capacity would be created to allow new development.

The focus on the sewer system's capacity is largely a result of last year's settlement of a nearly decade-long legal battle over development rules, a battle that cost the city over $2 million in legal fees and forced an agreement to ensure sewer capacity exists for any new hotel developments.

The city's sewer system was originally built in 1957 and is well beyond its designed 50-year life span.

Officials say "a significant build-up of sludge the consistency of concrete" is clogging sewer lines.

During even average storms, rainwater and surface flooding flow into cracked and broken sewer manholes, filling the pipes and often forcing sewage to back up onto streets and into neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, ever-present ground water, a fact of life along Florida beaches, seeps and sometimes pours into cracked and disintegrating sewer pipes, further increasing sewage flow well beyond the system's designed capacity.

This leakage causes sewer systems pumps and lift stations to work longer and at higher pressures than they should.

"The pipe system is over-full and has no remaining capacity," said consultant Jordan Walker.

Televised video inspection is expected to be completed by fall. At that point the consultants will numerically prioritize the most critical sections for repair.

Walker stressed, however, repairs will not reduce system flows enough to provide additional capacity for development.

The only way to achieve that, according to officials, is to lay additional or larger pipes — and that is what the additional $10 million could pay for.

City commissioners already have $1 million budgeted and plan to allocate $1.2 million expected from the BP settlement, and shift part or all of the $2 million in loan funds originally intended for building a new library to pay for the repairs.

Potential sources for the $10 million full system rehabilitation include cutting back or eliminating other capital projects, diverting some or all of the $5.5 million Penny for Pinellas money now designated for burying utilities along Gulf Boulevard, using the remaining funds from the $2 million set aside for the library and other non-critical capital improvement projects, and charging developers adequate impact fees to pay the cost of providing additional capacity.

"What is more important, to stop exposing our residents to raw sewage or building a beautiful library. That is where we have to draw the line," said Vice Mayor Rick Falkenstein.

Commissioner Terri Finnerty is not ready to give up the Egan Park project, however, saying she is angry over cutting back a project her District 1 has "waited too dang long" to see done.