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Tampa Bay area counties, searching for water, are mulling the Weeki Wachee River or a Hernando well field. But the planning is long-term, officials say.
By DAN DeWITT
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 3, 2001
People at a recent series of public workshops in Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties suggested two potential water sources that never would come up at similar meetings in Hernando:
The Weeki Wachee River and a well field in eastern Hernando County.
"I think that's something we'd fight to the end," Hernando County Commission Chairman Chris Kingsley said of the proposal to tap into the Weeki Wachee. Considering the damage caused by other large regional well fields, Kingsley added, the other proposal is almost as frightening.
"We know they have a negative impact," he said.
"I'm sure the board and the community would be in great opposition to the Weeki Wachee Spring ever being used," said Commissioner Nancy Robinson.
The workshops were held to identify future water sources for Tampa Bay Water, the consortium that serves Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties, as well as Tampa, St. Petersburg and New Port Richey.
Its permit from the Southwest Florida Water Management District, or Swiftmud, allows Tampa Bay Water to pump 158-million gallons per day. The agency has regularly exceeded that amount in recent months because of the demand created by the drought, said Michelle Robinson, a spokeswoman for the consortium.
The excessive demand has demonstrated the need to develop more sources of water, and the agency is spending $609-million on such projects, she said, including a desalination plant in Hillsborough County.
If Tampa Bay Water pursues the sources in Hernando County, Michelle Robinson said, it would not be for more than a decade.
"This is long-term planning. We're working ahead to make sure our region has adequate water supply," she said.
The public workshops, run by the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, were in early April in all six of the jurisdictions Tampa Bay Water serves. Participants compiled a total of 300 possible sources of water. An engineering firm hired by Tampa Bay Water then culled the list to 35, including both the Weeki Wachee and the east Hernando well field site.
The list will be further trimmed to eight potential sources in the next six to 12 months. Any sources eventually selected would not go online until 2014, the spokeswoman said.
"This is a very, very, very preliminary plan," said Don Manlapaz, of the planning council. "They are nowhere near being developed."
Michelle Robinson said the consortium has not yet considered how it would tap into the spring or transport the water. Also, she said, it has not identified any particular site for the potential well field in Hernando, only that it would be in the eastern part of the county.
Swiftmud would ultimately decide whether Tampa Bay Water is allowed access to either source, said district spokesman Michael Molligan.
A state law, commonly known as "local sources first," requires utilities to first consider tapping ground and surface water in the areas they serve.
The statute also mandates that they consider "all economically and technically feasible alternatives to the proposed source, including, but not limited to, desalination, conservation, reuse of non-potable reclaimed water and stormwater, and aquifer storage and recovery."
But, if those conditions are met, Tampa Bay Water might qualify for a permit to withdraw water from Hernando, Molligan said.
Swiftmud is negotiating the purchase of the spring and the land around it from St. Petersburg. But even if the sale goes through, Molligan said, it does not necessarily protect the river's water from being used.
The Swiftmud board would consider the proposal as it would other alternatives, though it would take into consideration many factors before issuing a permit, Molligan said, including the spring's environmental value.
But many think a public outcry probably would prevent any use of the river's water.
"I don't think they're ever going to get Weeki Wachee," Hernando County Utilities Director Kay Adams said.
St. Petersburg bought the spring and 450 acres around it in 1940, with the intention of eventually using it for the city's water supply. Though the city later abandoned the plan as too expensive, it considered selling bottled water from the spring as recently as 1999, when St. Petersburg residents voted to allow the city to sell the spring.
Many interpreted the vote to mean that the river would never be used as a public water supply.
If certainly never should be, said Don Fish, vice president of Hernando Environmental Land Protectors, an environmental group.
"It would not be cost-effective to get water out of the Weeki Wachee and transport it south. It would have a very dramatic effect on the estuary and all the living things that depend on it," Fish said. "I think it would be a very bad situation for the whole riverine system."