Landfill forces agency to find new well sites

Tampa Bay Water had to change its plans for brackish well locations. Its water delivery date is pushed back six months.

By MAUREEN BYRNE AHERN
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 19, 2002

Tampa Bay Water is moving its target area for well sites and pipeline routes for a brackish water desalination project.

The government agency planned to put most of the wells in Pinellas Park until the county expressed concern about the area being too close to its landfill. Officials feared the wells could affect the water level under the Bridgeway Acres Landfill, a situation that could end up contaminating the aquifer.

"We're not starting completely over, but we are starting over," said Mike Coates, project manager for Tampa Bay Water, which supplies drinking water to St. Petersburg, Tampa and New Port Richey, and to Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties. Pinellas Park and Seminole get water from the utility because their water comes from Pinellas County.

If there was a breach in the clay that surrounds the 750-acre landfill near Roosevelt Boulevard and Interstate 275, water could become contaminated, said Pick Talley, Pinellas County utilities director.

The project area now under consideration is south of East Bay Drive, north of Park Boulevard, east of Lake Seminole and west of 66th Street N. The agency is considering 40 potential well sites in that area.

Last year, Tampa Bay Water decided on 16 locations for wells. Most of the sites were in industrial or commercial areas of Pinellas Park in the vicinity of 62nd Avenue N and 102 Avenue N. Six of those sites still are being considered.

Because both the proposed well sites and pipeline routes are shifting, additional public input is being sought on the alternatives. Before paring the list to the final well sites, the utility wants residents to have a chance to comment on the locations. An open house is scheduled for Tuesday evening at Osceola Middle School in Seminole.

Input from that meeting, combined with other technical data, will enable scientists to make the final cut to 14 wells. They will be about 300 feet deep, Coates said.

"You probably won't even notice that they're around," he said. "They're pretty obscure."

The salty water will be pumped to a desalination plant, which is expected to be at 10450 66th St. N. Plant construction is scheduled in 2003.

Coates said the process of evaluating alternative well sites and identifying new pipeline routes will take several months and is expected to delay the project's water delivery date by up to six months, until the spring of 2006. Coates said the delay should not result in water shortage problems.

The Mid-Pinellas Brackish Water Desalination Project is part of the Tampa Bay Water Master Water Plan to provide drinking water for the region. The project involves producing a total of about 6-million gallons of water per day from 14 brackish water production wells in the mid-Pinellas region.

The brackish water would go through a desalination process that produces 5-million gallons of water per day. The desalinated water would be disinfected and piped into the drinking water system for distribution to homes and businesses. The 1-million gallons of saltwater concentrate also produced would be injected into a portion of the aquifer about 1,000 feet below the ground.

Most of the water that Tampa Bay Water uses comes from 11 facilities in Pasco and north Hillsborough counties. Those facilities deliver as much as 158-million gallons of water each day, but the supply is dwindling. Tampa Bay Water has to decrease usage in the next few years. By 2007, the utility will be allowed to pump only 91-million gallons of water a day from those sources.

Utility officials say one solution is to clean up brackish water, which has a higher salt content than readily drinkable water but less than seawater. It is more economical to clean brackish water than seawater.

"It's a matter of conserving and making sure we have adequate supplies to meet our growth," Coates said.

If you go

Tampa Bay Water will hold a public meeting to discuss 40 possible well sites and pipeline options in the mid-Pinellas area. The wells would provide brackish water for a desalination plant. Residents will have a chance to comment on the site locations from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Osceola High School, 9751 98th St., Seminole.

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