master water plan projects (continued)

decides not to move forward with their project, Tampa Bay Water would evaluate it for applicability in meeting regional system needs. 

Surface & Recharge Water Projects

The Surface & Recharge Water Projects entails: 1. Evaluation of additional surface water from the Alafia River and Bullfrog Creek; 2. Review of the cost and reliability aspects of additional surface water storage; and 3. Potential use of reclaimed water to provide a potable water benefit either through aquifer recharge or downstream augmentation.

Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant Expansion

This project idea involves a 10 million gallon per day expansion of the existing Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant. The desalination facility, currently the nation’s largest operating seawater desalination plant, is co-located with Tampa Electric Company’s Big Bend Power Station in southern Hillsborough County. The facility provides up to 10 percent of the region’s drinking water supply when running at full capacity.   Existing supply pipelines and finished water pipelines were initially sized to accommodate this expansion; therefore, the potential changes needed could include modification of pretreatment and chemical facilities and additional reverse osmosis filters.

Thonotosassa Wells

This project includes evaluation of a potential source of future drinking water supply on the City of Tampa property located in eastern Hillsborough County.  An environmental assessment of the property involves water quality and quantity evaluations, gathering information on past use of the site, a pipeline route study, and hydrologic modeling work.