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Vote On Alafia Water Standards Postponed

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By MIKE SALINERO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 16, 2007

CLEARWATER - A move to provide more protections for the Alafia River was delayed for 60 days to give several concerned groups more time to study technical and economic data collected by the area's regional water supplier, Tampa Bay Water.

The water utility's board of directors voted to wait until its Dec. 17 meeting to vote on reclassifying the Alafia as a Class I water. The river is now classified Class III, meaning its water quality should be good enough for fishing and other water recreation. The proposed Class I designation would mean the river would have to meet more stringent drinking water standards.
Phosphate companies and farmers are concerned the proposal would impose greater pollution control regulations on them and possibly take private land to provide wider setbacks on protected portions of the river.
Tampa Bay Water wants the change to protect a major source of drinking water. The utility says the Alafia and the Tampa Bypass Canal, also up for reclassification, are among a handful of surface water bodies in the state that are still Class III.

To get the reclassification started, the board must petition the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP would then begin its own examination and hold public hearings before making a recommendation to the state's Environmental Regulatory Commission, which makes the final decision.
Water board members Mark Sharpe and Al Higginbotham, both Hillsborough County commissioners, asked for the delay to give county staff time to study the utility's data.

'One of the challenges I've seen is we're having a number of individuals who are very concerned about the impacts of this,' Sharpe said.

Higginbotham said the county staff has had the data supporting the request for just 11 days.

Mosaic Fertilizer, the state's largest phosphate miner and manufacturer, also wrote a letter requesting the delay.

'Despite assurances, Tampa Bay Water has failed to provide stakeholders an opportunity to review the data supporting their analysis,' said David Townsend, a spokesman for Mosaic. 'That's something they were directed to do by the county commission. They keep assuring us they're doing that, but they haven't.'

Hank Fishkind, an economist hired by Tampa Bay Water to look at effects of the reclassification to agriculture, mining and development interests, said the benefits would far outweigh the costs. For instance, he said, the protected part of the Alafia River is far enough away from phosphate mines that any pollutants from the mining would be diluted.

Fishkind's analysis showed about $320 million in benefits to Tampa Bay Water drinking water customers because 'a valuable drinking water supply would be protected at very little cost to stakeholders.'

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at msalinero@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-8303.

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