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Desal plans trouble water agency

The Southwest Florida Water Management District votes to challenge Tampa Bay Water's intent to use a desalination plant at less than full capacity.

By BILL VARIAN
Published June 29, 2005

A desalination plant in Apollo Beach has always been expected to produce an average of 25-million gallons of water daily, regional water regulators said Tuesday.

What's more, the Southwest Florida Water Management District never would have pledged $85-million toward its construction had it known Tampa Bay Water's intent to use the plant at much less than full capacity - some 15-million gallons a day, they said.

In a unanimous 11-0 vote Tuesday, the governing board of Swiftmud, the agency charged with protecting the region's water resources, agreed with an attorney's opinion concluding as much and directed top staff to meet with Tampa Bay Water officials.

"This is not my money," Watson Haynes II, a St. Petersburg appointee to Swiftmud's governing board, said at the meeting in Brooksville. "This is the taxpayers' dollars that we made a commitment on."

Hillsborough County commissioners have been raising concerns about Tampa Bay Water's recent revelation that it plans to use the roughly $140-million desal plant at less than full strength much of the time. The utility that supplies water to much of Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties has said it will increase groundwater pumping by some 14-million gallons daily to meet demand.

Tampa Bay Water officials note that taking drinking water from underground is cheaper than converting it from seawater and that there has been plenty of rain to replenish the aquifer.

Hillsborough's contingent on the Tampa Bay Water board of directors, in raising concerns about that plan, has consistently been voted down by the other governments who get water from the utility. Tuesday's unanimous vote by the Swiftmud board was particularly notable since three of its members come from Pinellas or Pasco counties.

While no Hillsborough commissioners attended the meeting, four residents from northern Hillsborough did, and addressed the Swiftmud board before it voted. They reminded board members of the contentious water wars of the 1990s that devolved into costly lawsuits, many by residents who blamed drying lakes and wetlands on excessive pumping.

"Please do not allow a regression backward toward more groundwater pumping," said Mike Carter, who sits on the board of directors for the Keystone Civic Association.

Another, activist Denise Layne, said north county lakes and wetlands are still ailing, even though Tampa Bay Water has reduced pumping sharply.

Tampa Bay Water officials have denied that they are required to run the plant at full capacity, full time. They submitted a legal opinion this week claiming as much.

[Last modified June 29, 2005, 01:18:19]