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Board May Take Crack At Lawsuits

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By MIKE SALINERO

msalinero@tampatrib.com

Published: October 11, 2008

CLEARWATER - When cracks first began appearing in the wall of the C.W. "Bill" Young Reservoir, Tampa Bay Water officials said the problems were nothing to be worried about.

Now, the regional water supplier is getting ready to sue three companies that designed or built the wall.

The Tampa Bay Water board will vote Oct. 20 on whether to authorize lawsuits against HDR Engineering, Barnard Construction and Construction Dynamics Group. HDR designed the reservoir, Barnard was the lead construction contractor and Construction Dynamics oversaw construction.

At the same time, the board will vote on whether to cancel contracts with HDR, which has been leading the investigation into the cause of the cracking. The company's contract with Tampa Bay Water also covers preparing annual reports on the reservoir for local, state and federal environmental regulators.

The three companies did not respond Friday to calls and e-mails requesting comments.

Richard Lotspeich, Tampa Bay Water's general counsel, said the lawsuits must be filed before the statute of limitations runs out on the contracts with the companies. The first deadline is Dec. 21 for HDR Engineering.
Lotspeich said it's too early to speculate on how much money Tampa Bay Water will try to recover in the lawsuits.

"At this point we don't know what that number would be," he said. "That number would be related to the fix."

The first cracks appeared in the soil-cement covering of the reservoir's inner walls in December 2006. Since then, the cracks have become more widespread and severe in the northeast and southwest corners of the 930-acre reservoir in southeast Hillsborough County.

In August, the utility announced it would allow water levels to be drawn down during the fall and winter so cracks below the waterline could be investigated. The reservoir holds 15 billion gallons at capacity.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.

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