TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

City, Swiftmud Join To Provide Reclaimed Water To Ranch

ADVERTISEMENT

By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 25, 2008

DADE CITY - The Southwest Florida Water Management District has joined forces with Dade City officials to provide reclaimed water to Little Everglades Ranch for irrigation.

The $4 million project will install 3 miles of water lines, a 1-million-gallon storage tank and a pump station on the ranch, according to Swiftmud spokeswoman Robyn Felix.

An existing city infiltration pond will be lined to help it contain about 7 million gallons of additional reclaimed water, Felix said.

Swiftmud's Withlacoochee River Basin Board will pay about half the cost of the project. The rest will be picked up by Dade City, which plans to seek federal loans and grants to pay for its portion, said Joe White, staff assistant to city Public Works Director Jose Gil.
Reclaimed water is the final product after sewage has been treated.

The new line will be extended from the city's Irwin Avenue sewage treatment plant. Another reclaimed water line already runs south of the city to Enterprise Road, where it irrigates crops grown by landowner John Larkin, White said.

When completed in 2010, the project will free up about 300,000 gallons of drinking-quality water now used to irrigate the ranch's race track and sod farm, Felix said.

The ranch's latest Swiftmud water-use permit lets the owners draw, on average, more than 450,000 gallons a day from the ground to use on the property.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT