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Panel Focuses On Desal Plant

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By ANTHONY McCARTNEY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 11, 2007

TAMPA - To meet Florida's growing need for fresh water, a number of communities likely will turn to a solution that has yet to prove itself in the Tampa Bay area - desalination.

Lessons learned from Hillsborough County's desal plant could prove key to future efforts, officials said during a panel discussion held in downtown Tampa on Monday.

The technology's future in the Tampa Bay area, however, largely will depend on the success of the current plant near Tampa Electric's Big Bend Power Station, said Ken Herd, director of operations and facilities for Tampa Bay Water.

That plant has never met expectations, although Herd told a group of water professionals that by the end of the year, the plant should be turning out 25 million gallons of drinkable water per day.

It is currently producing about 20 million gallons per day.

'The bottom line is, we need this project online by the end of the year,' Herd told the group assembled for the 22nd Annual Water Reuse Symposium in Tampa this week.
Tampa Bay Water is required to decrease its dependency on groundwater by 2008. The desal plant is only part of the solution; the agency has also developed a reservoir and a surface water treatment system to ensure residents of Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties have enough water.

The surface water and reservoir systems likely will be expanded before Bay area officials sign off on any new desalination efforts, Herd told the group.

The agency still has hopes that a site on the Anclote River will one day become a desal plant - this time with a better source of water.

The Big Bend site has been plagued with problems filtering out not only salt, but also other sediments and microscopic marine life. It siphons water used to cool the Tampa Electric plant, and that water is more brackish than seawater.

The water 'is probably some of worst source water we've seen,' said Andrew L. Shea, an official with Acciona Aqua, a company that took over the desal project after a previous contractor declared bankruptcy.

Despite the challenges, he also expressed confidence that Tampa Bay's desal plant will eventually work as planned. The stakes are high, he said, 'The whole world is watching.'

Herd said several other Florida communities - including Fort Myers, Flagler County, Fort Lauderdale and Port Everglades - are investigating desal projects.
Tampa Bay Water has plans for expanding the Big Bend plant so it could produce up to 35 million gallons of fresh water, or building a full-fledged facility at the Anclote River Power Plant.

Because of earlier problems at the Big Bend site, those options remain on the 'back burner,' Herd told the audience.

'Before we consider another desal plant in this region, we must get this plant up and running for a sustained period of time,' he said.

Reporter Anthony McCartney can be reached at (813) 259-7616 or amccartney@tampatrib.com.

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