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Reservoir Level Sinks; Costs Rise

News Channel 8 file photo by PAUL LAMISON (2008)

Crews work near cracks at the Bill Young Reservoir in east Tampa in July.

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By STEVE ANDREWS | News Channel 8

Published: February 16, 2009

TAMPA - It's getting expensive to be so low on water.

As the reservoir level continues to drop, Tampa Bay Water, the agency responsible for making sure Tampa Bay has clean, safe water plans to transfer $15 million from its Rate Stablization Reserve, a rainy day account, to cover costs and pay for water.

"We've kind of had this hydrological perfect storm," Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe said. Sharpe serves as chairman of Tampa Bay Water's Board of Directors. "We've got a dry season coming in at the same time that we have the reservoir with problems with the cracking."

TBW plans to spend another $2 million to grout and fill cracks at the reservoir along with another $800,000 for engineering.

"This will allow us to make those additional fixes to the reservoir but not charge the customer," Sharpe said.

In August 2007, a News Channel 8 investigation revealed severe cracking at the C.W. Bill Young Reservoir in eastern Hillsborough County. The reservoir is designed to hold 15 billion gallons of water. The agency does not know the exact cause of the cracking. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection decided to limit the water put in to the reservoir until a cause and cure for the cracking is determined.

According to Sharpe TBW hopes with the additional patching, FDEP will allow TBW to fill the reservoir to its capacity later this summer.

"That to me is very important," Sharpe said. "At a time when we are looking at a drought, we want the citizens to get the optimal use of what they put their money into."

According to Tampa Bay Water there are about 700 million gallons of water left in the reservoir.

"We anticipate probably in the next month or two the reservoir will no longer be a useful source of water," Donald Polmann, Director of TBW's Science and Engineering said.

So the agency is looking at other water sources.

When the budget was adopted last June TBW anticipated the desalination plant at Big Bend road would produce an annual average of 15 million gallons per day. It is now anticipated the desal plant will produce 20 million gallons per day. That will increase projected power and chemical costs at the facility by about $4.5 million. When added to the increased costs of electrical power and water treatment chemicals used at other facilities, will drive Tampa Bay Water's costs about $9 million over what was budgeted.

Sharpe anticipates there will be enough water to get the bay area through the dry season.

"We pray for rain," he said.

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