Planning for long term water resources

Adequate quantities of safe and healthy fresh water are critical to the health of the Hillsborough River.  A growing population in the Tampa Bay area also requires water from the environment to meet its everyday needs of drinking, bathing, etc. Tampa Bay Water is a government agency that supplies many of the largest local governments in Tampa Bay with wholesale potable water that is then distributed to residents. Ensuring adequate water supplies are available for future residents is a mandate for Tampa Bay Water.   

Project Manager Daniel Keirsey with Tampa Bay Water and their consultant planning manager Amanda Schwerman with Black and Veatch attended the Technical Advisory Committee’s (TAC) June River Board meeting and presented the progress of updating Tampa Bay Water’s Long Term Master Water Plan. 

Tampa Bay Water staff and consultants are currently investigating options for one or more new water supply projects to provide water to the region in the 2033 timeframe. The effort is part of the utility’s Long-term Master Water Plan update process, which is updated every five years. After a coarse screening process that pared more than 100 options down to 25 concepts, staff and consultants identified the top 11 options to move to a short-listing process. These include three desalination and brackish groundwater supplies, three surface water supplies, and five fresh groundwater or other supply concepts, including one project using reclaimed water to generate credits for a freshwater supply. 

Based on the long-term potential for reclaimed water as a water supply and the additional time needed to study this potential water supply source, Tampa Bay Water and its consultants are recommending including reclaimed water projects in a Developmental Alternative Program as part of the Long-term Master Water Plan. Developmental alternatives are water supply options that may require new regulations or treatment approaches and require more long-term study to develop project concepts further as technology advances, processes develop, and regulations are completed or enacted. During this process, Tampa Bay Water staff and consultants will study options and collect data to address numerous technical and stakeholder concerns. If and when data analyses and regulatory requirements align, Tampa Bay Water may bring feasible projects before the board for further consideration. 

Staff and consultants will continue to review new water supply options for 2033 to narrow down the top 11 concepts and present a short list of options at the August 2023 Tampa Bay Water board meeting. Tampa Bay Water’s board of directors is expected to consider approving the short list of options for feasibility studies at its November 2023 meeting. 

The Hillsborough River Interlocal Planning Board will continue to monitor and coordinate with Tampa Bay Water to ensure the most prudent research and planning is done to make sure there is adequate and safe water in the future for both the Hillsborough River and residents. 

Source:  Tampa Bay Water, 2023.  Also see:  https://www.tampabaywater.org/