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'Toilet to tap' proposal on tap before Tampa city council today

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 24, 2009

Updated: 09/24/2009 09:21 am

TAMPA - Should treated sewer water be put back into the city's drinking water system?

Tampa Councilman Charlie Miranda believes so and wants to let Tampa voters decide by putting a similarly worded question on the ballot in the 2010 elections.

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

His proposal, to be discussed at a council workshop today, is to build a new wastewater treatment plant to purify the wastewater, 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 be expected to cost tens of millions of dollars at a time when the city is struggling to meet operating expenses.

City officials have estimated that such a project could cost more than $200 million.

Tampa's reclaimed water is treated enough for agriculture purposes, but not for drinking.

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, and anti-seizure and antibiotic medications.

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

In some cases, wastewater is filtered by 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 converts urine into drinking water for space station missions.

The idea has been floated by Tampa officials in the past, but never got under way.

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

Reclaimed water from the city's wastewater treatment plant was 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.

Both the city and Hillsborough County are under pressure from state environmental regulators to stop dumping treated wastewater into waterways. More than 55 million gallons of Tampa's unused reclaimed water is dumped into the Bay every day.

The workshop begins at 9 a.m. in city hall at 315 E. Kennedy Blvd. in downtown.

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

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