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Tampa water officials studying toilet-to-tap proposal

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 19, 2009

Updated: 06/19/2009 12:54 pm

TAMPA - What gets flushed down the toilet, doesn't usually come back through the tap.

But that's exactly what Tampa City Councilman Charlie Miranda wants to see happen to hundreds of millions of gallons of treated wastewater the city dumps into Tampa Bay.

Miranda, who never shies from taking a controversial stand on water and energy issues, has resurrected the decades-old debate over turning sewer water into drinkable water.

He believes the impact of the drought – which resulted in Tampa adopting the toughest watering restrictions in the state – has proven that the city needs to save every drop.

"We need to become self-sufficient," he said. "We need to do a better job of conserving."

City officials are taking Miranda's proposal seriously to the point that they've been talking with local hydrological experts and state regulators to gauge their preliminary support.

His proposal, still in its infancy, would be to build a new wastewater treatment plant to purify wastewater to drinkable quality, then inject it into the ground for natural filtration before it flows into the Hillsborough River, the city's primary source of drinking water.

Such a move would require state and federal permits, and is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars at a time when the city is struggling to meet operating expenses.

Councilman John Dingfelder said despite that, he doesn't think the plan will fly.

"I don't think the community is ready for something like this," he said. "We have people that are too frightened to put reclaimed water on their lawns, let alone in their bodies."

Beyond the stigma attached to drinking something than flowed through a sewer system, scientists have recently begun raising concerns about the potential for health risks.

Tampa's reclaimed water is treated enough for agriculture purposes, but not drinking, and recent environmental studies have found that not everything gets filtered out.

In 2005, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a study of the treated wastewater from the city's Howard F. Curren Wastewater Treatment Plant and found 27 different kinds of micropollutants in the recycled water even after it passed through a filtration process.

These included estrogens, steroids, anti-seizure and antibiotic medications.

Miranda said utilities in Virginia, Texas and California return treated wastewater to their drinking water supplies that well exceed state and federal water quality standards.

In some cases, wastewater is filtered through reverse osmosis, which pressurizes the water and pushes it through a sheet of plastic, or is exposed to ultraviolet radiation and mixed with hydrogen peroxide to destroy any micropollutants and organic matter.

NASA also converts urine into drinking water for space station missions.

"If the astronauts can drink it, why can't we?" Miranda said. "The technology exists."

The idea has been floated by the city in the past, but never got underway.

In the mid-1980s, Tampa spent more than $6 million on research for a similar proposal but backed away from it over cost concerns and a lack of support from the public.

Reclaimed water from the city's wastewater treatment plant was actually fed to rodents in the 1990s to test for bacteria levels, toxicity, virus counts and chemicals. A panel of experts hired by the city to study health risks determined it was safe for consumption.

Ralph Metcalf, director of the city's wastewater department, said building a treatment plant to produce drinkable recycled wastewater could cost upwards of $150 million.

That's still less than the estimated $341 million the city is considering spending on a plan to distribute to reclaimed water to businesses and property owners for landscaping.

"But there's a stigma attached to it," he said. "Many people will never warm to the idea."

Both the city of Tampa and the county are under pressure from the state Department of Environmental Protection to stop dumping unused treated wastewater into waterways.

More than 55 million gallons of reclaimed water is dumped into the Bay every day.

Even though the water is highly treated, it still contains high levels of nitrogen that can rob natural water bodies of oxygen needed by fish, shellfish and other marine life.

Tampa has for years struggled to expand its distribution system to put more reclaimed water on lawns to offset potable water use. While plans are underway to expand it, the reclaimed system serves only about 3,500 residents in South Tampa neighborhoods.

The city is expected to report back to council on Miranda's proposal in a few months.

If council approves it, he wants to put the question on the ballot in the 2011 elections.

"I want to let the citizens decide," Miranda said. "After all, they'll be ones' drinking it."

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (813) 259-7679.

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