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Despite Demand, Reclaimed Water Not Widely Used

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE

cwade@tampatrib.com

Published: March 29, 2009

TAMPA - With the drought worsening and water restrictions getting tougher, city residents are looking to reclaimed water as a way to conserve water and keep their lawns green.

But unless you live in South Tampa, you'll have to wait.

That's because only a handful of the city's neighborhoods are hooked up to the system, and expansion of reclaimed-water distribution lines to other areas are years away.

City officials say the demand for reclaimed water from residential customers has risen dramatically since March 19, when the city council approved new watering restrictions.

The new rules, the toughest in the state, go into effect April 3 and will allow only hand-watering of lawns one day a week.

Reclaimed-water users are exempt from the rules.

"We've seen a huge increase in reclaimed requests, but we just don't have capacity to accommodate that demand," said Brad Baird, director of the Tampa Water Department.

Baird said the city plans to expand the system, but that could take several years.

"Expansion of a reclaimed-water system is very costly and time-consuming," he said.

Last week, the city floated the idea of giving away reclaimed water to local landscaping contractors as part of an effort to get more of the treated effluent onto parched lawns. So far, though, city officials have found few takers.

Struggles Persist

Tampa for years has struggled with its reclaimed-water system, which serves about 3,100 residents in the Hyde Park, Davis Islands and Beach Park areas.

By comparison, Hillsborough County provides reclaimed water to more than 15,000 households; Pasco serves about 10,000; and Pinellas serves more than 37,000.

The city's system, known as the South Tampa Area Reclaimed system, provides highly treated wastewater from the Howard F. Curren Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant.
City planners say they chose South Tampa because residents had expressed interest in the service and because of the area's proximity to the treatment plant at Hooker's Point.

But residents were slow to sign up for the program when it began several years ago, in part because the cost of drinking water was about the same as the cost of reclaimed. There were other problems, too: clogged and damaged pipes and construction delays.

In 2007, the city increased the price of drinking water and lowered the cost of reclaimed water, part of an effort to get more customers to hook up. They also established a one-time $375 connection fee for residents who hadn't previously signed up for the service.

The new rates generated a few hundred more users.

Mayor Pam Iorio has said she is committed to expanding the reclaimed-water system, focusing on areas where water usage is high and reclaimed-water lines are near.

To pay for it, the city has turned to the Obama administration and Congress, hoping to get a slice of the proposed $787 billion stimulus package. In a wish list submitted last month, the city requested more than $300 million to expand the reclaimed system.

One of those areas is New Tampa, which has one of the fastest-growing populations, as well as expansive lawns and grassy common areas along Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

Under former Mayor Dick Greco, the city toyed with a plan to build a pipeline from the wastewater plant to New Tampa. For several reasons, including cost, the plan never materialized. At one point, projected costs reached nearly $120 million.

Cheaper To Serve Commercial Users

Aside from the cost of transmission, treated wastewater is expensive to produce: It takes about six households to make enough reclaimed water to serve one house.

City officials are working on a 20-year reclaimed-water plan that focuses on expanding the system and sets guidelines for large users and residential customers.

But the report is expected to focus on expanding more into South Tampa and pumping reclaimed to larger commercial users such as the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center or Tampa International Airport, for example.

From a fiscal point of view, that makes good sense, said Anthony Andrade, a senior water conservation analyst with the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

"It's generally cheaper to service 400 large commercial users than 4,000 residential users," he said.

Another issue facing the city is what happens to the excess water. Tampa dumps about 55 million gallons of unused reclaimed into Tampa Bay daily.

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.

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

Regionally, Tampa Bay Water managers are pushing plans to replace drinking water within the region with reclaimed water for lawn irrigation by 2025.

WHAT IS RECLAIMED WATER?

Reclaimed water is created by treating sewage, removing the solids and filtering the resulting water to remove as much material as possible. The water is not considered drinkable because it has not been treated for every pathogen. Reclaimed water contains valuable nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients, which promote plant growth.

USES: Irrigation, street-sweeping operations, power generation, decorative fountains, fire protection (purple fire hydrants), dust control, aquifer recharge cooling, makeup water for industrial processes, natural system restoration.

NOT FOR USE: In cases of body-contact recreation (including swimming pools), cooking, drinking or irrigating vegetable and herb gardens (unless a drip or bubbler system is used)

Source: Southwest Florida Water Management District

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be

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