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Tampa Bay Water did not play a big enough role in getting its desalination plant up and running. Now it needs to assure an already uncertain public the project is back on track.
There were plenty of concerns about the region's first desalination plant long before the deadlines went by and the contractors went bankrupt. Now Covanta, the plant's builder-operator, wants more time and money to complete construction, raising the chance another deadline will be missed, which - whether it happens or not - could further erode public confidence in desal and in the three-county cooperative that embraced it, Tampa Bay Water.
Board member Susan Latvala of Pinellas was right to demand that Tampa Bay Water hold Covanta's "feet to the fire." Its failure to get the plant up and running is the latest in a string of disappointments, and a significant setback in the plan to reduce the reliance on groundwater to meet the region's drinking-water needs. Getting the plant operational now has to be the utility's prime concern. If Covanta can't do it, the cooperative needs to find a new partner and move ahead.
It would be a shame at this point, given the public investment involved, to have to switch contractors, or to have litigation shift attention away from opening a functional plant. Even fines against Covanta offer little real comfort. What the utility should want, as this long-term relationship starts, is a business partner who is financially strong and who has a strong monetary incentive in fixing these immediate problems. The plant opened in March, but the filters that help remove salt from the seawater clogged faster than expected. With the rainy season ending, officials need to find a way to speed the cleaning process and get the plant's original mission back on track.
The delays reflect poorly on the utility, not only Covanta. Tampa Bay Water left too much responsibility to its private-sector partners - first to the previous contractor, who dropped out after declaring bankruptcy, and later to Covanta, which tested the system for flaws. It will be difficult for the utility to sell the region on a second desal plant until the underlying problems with managing the first one are acknowledged and fixed. Tampa Bay Water needs to have a larger role with any future, for-profit partner. It also needs to craft better contingencies - not only punitive ones that punish nonperformance, but strategies to get these forward-thinking projects successfully off the ground.
There might be some immediate fallout in Hillsborough, where many politicians were skeptical about hosting the Apollo Beach plant. This would be the worst reaction at a sensitive time. The cooperative needs support from its member governments, and it should continue to look for water resources that don't require groundwater pumping. The problems with cleaning discharge from the plant don't nullify the purpose for having it, and it's worth remembering - beyond the issue of blame - that these delays are borne from concern over environmental protection. Tampa Bay Water's bigger problem is political: It needs to show the public it's moving ahead.