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Desal bargain may avoid potential legal battles

Some had wanted the plant to run longer at full capacity. Now a legal fight is less likely.

By GARRETT THEROLF
Published December 16, 2005

The agreement to run the new desalination water plant at full capacity for only four months forces Pasco County to accept a test period that it had earlier said would be insufficient to restore the county's wetlands and prove the plant actually works.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District, known as Swiftmud, and Tampa Bay Water brokered this week's deal under the belief that member governments such as Pasco, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties will fall in line.

Pasco has been especially interested in the negotiations because every gallon treated from the Gulf of Mexico is 1 gallon less pumped from groundwater sources that underpin the health of the county's wetlands and keep homeowners free of sinkholes.

If the agreement stands, it would avert what threatened to be a costly legal battle waged by Swiftmud, Pasco and others against Tampa Bay Water to force it to treat more water despite the higher cost.

"It's a good agreement," Pasco County Commissioner Ted Schrader said Thursday. He helped broker the deal on behalf of Tampa Bay Water as its board chairman.

Under terms of the agreement reached Tuesday, the Apollo Beach plant's opening next year, three years after its original target, will trigger a schedule of performance goals that will be rewarded with portions of the $85-million Swiftmud has agreed to contribute to the facility's $140-million cost.

The schedule laid out in the agreement requires the plant to operate at a minimum average of 12.5-million gallons per day for the first year, including at least four months at its full 25-million gallons per day capacity.

In the second year, Tampa Bay Water must operate the plant at a 20-million gallons per day average or forfeit up to $5-million in interest owed on the original $85-million bill.

Swiftmud and Pasco County earlier had argued that the existing contract requires a full year at 25-million gallons per day to prove the plant works and to relieve stress on the groundwater supply to restore wetlands.

But when a professional mediator said talks were going nowhere, the parties openly worried about a costly legal entanglement. Swiftmud spokesman Michael Molligan said Thursday that "we had a responsibility to the taxpayers to avoid that."

Pasco County could challenge the decision, although none of the commissioners have expressed any desire to take on Tampa Bay Water alone.

[Last modified December 16, 2005, 00:54:19]