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Desal plant talks hit impasse

Negotiations stall over how much of the region's drinking water will come from a new desalination plant.

By GARRETT THEROLF
Published December 9, 2005

The mediator trying to settle the fight over how much drinking water will be produced by the region's desalination plant when it opens next year said this week that "there's nothing more I can do for you" and declared an impasse, according to officials involved in the case.

Unless talks reopen and a resolution is reached, the dispute over Tampa Bay Water's $140-million Apollo Beach desal plant, which is the largest in the United States, threatens to result in a costly lawsuit involving a number of government entities.

"You get seven to eight parties involved, each with one or two attorneys, each one having experts. All the money would be spent at the cost of taxpayers," said Pasco County Attorney Robert Sumner on Thursday.

The negotiations at the Doubletree Hotel in Tampa ended Tuesday with a failed effort, led by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, to force Tampa Bay Water to operate the desal plant for the first 12 months at 25-million gallons per day. Supporters included member governments such as Pasco and Hillsborough counties.

Tampa Bay Water announced plans during the summer to generate only 15-million gallons per day at the plant.

But the officials at odds with the authority want relief from decades of heavy pumping of their groundwater wells that, during dry periods, resulted in depleted water bodies and sinkholes.

Given the plant's many problems during construction, including corrosion of key water pumps and a three-year delay for completion, they've got reason to worry. Swiftmud and the counties argue that the plant must be operated at full capacity for one year in order to prove it can be relied upon during the next drought.

Tampa Bay Water officials argue that years of heavy rain makes more desal output unnecessary. Already, the water authority has reached its 2008 target for the reduction of groundwater pumping of less than 90-million gallons per day.

Ann Hildebrand, a Pasco County commissioner and Tampa Bay Water board member, said she sees a "fiduciary responsibility" to use the desalination plant at more moderate levels. The water it produces comes at three times the cost of groundwater.

She also noted that some residents in areas built in Pasco wetlands, including areas adjacent to Cypress Creek and Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel, are actually calling for additional groundwater pumping because of occasional flooding.

So four 12-hour days of negotiations, led by mediator John M. Barkett of Miami, resulted in no agreement. The best offer from Tampa Bay Water was to operate the plant at full capacity for its first three or four months.

Finally, "the mediator said it was an impasse. He said there is nothing more I can do for you," said Tampa Bay Water Board Chairman Ted Schrader, also a Pasco County commissioner and supporter of giving the regional water authority "flexibility" to deliver water at reasonable cost.

All sides predicted the impasse would soon be broken with a lawsuit or an agreement. Swiftmud has as leverage its $85-million contribution to the plant.

Garrett Therolf covers Pasco County government. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6232 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6232. His e-mail address is gtherolf@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 9, 2005, 18:42:44]