Water Supply Crisis Impacts Tampa Bay Region
Area rivers critically low, regional reservoir at less than 25 percent of capacity

CLEARWATER, FLA — Tampa Bay Water has declared a Level III Water Supply Crisis—the agency’s highest designation of water shortage. Under this designation, Tampa Bay Water’s member governments are required to implement options for measurable demand reductions and to increase the enforcement of water restrictions. Tampa Bay Water will optimize all available supplies to continue to meet the region’s demand for safe, high-quality drinking water.

In spite of some recent localized showers, rainfall amounts in the Hillsborough and Alafia River watersheds have been substantially below normal since October 2005. As a result, flows in the Hillsborough and Alafia Rivers are 62 percent and 79 percent below normal, respectively. This caused Tampa Bay Water to cease regional water withdrawals from the rivers in March, and it has severely curtailed the amount of water the City of Tampa can withdraw from the Hillsborough River. Without above-average rainfall in these two watersheds and higher-than-normal river flow through the summer rainy season and fall, surface water supplies will not recover to provide storage for next spring’s use.

“The localized rain that some neighborhoods have seen lately did lower demand but did not increase the available supply,” explains Dave Bracciano, demand management coordinator for Tampa Bay Water. “The entire region needs to receive significant amounts of rainfall, which will help increase river flows slowly over time.”

The C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir has supplied 9 billion gallons of water since October 2006 to offset the loss of surface water withdrawals. Currently, however, the reservoir has only 3.57 billion gallons in storage. Since the reservoir is refilled only when river flows are high, significant rainfall is necessary to replenish its supply.

“Residents should know their water utility is enforcing local watering restrictions,” said Bracciano. “Since we are starting the rainy season, residents should be able to skip watering their lawns. Importantly, if you choose to water – know your watering day.”

Tampa Bay Water supports the efforts of local water officials in encouraging water conservation and the public’s adherence to existing irrigation restrictions.