Water consolidation in sights

It will cost $400,000 in lawyer and consultant fees to figure out whether consolidating Hillsborough County's four public water systems makes sense.

But county commissioners gladly agreed to make the payment Wednesday after being assured they'll get the money back, plus additional billions in efficiencies from a unified water delivery system.

"The rates of return for the people will be huge," said Commissioner Jim Norman, who came up with the idea of consolidation.

Steve Burton, managing attorney in the Broad and Cassel law firm, agreed that consolidating the water systems would be a boon for the county. Burton's firm did an initial assessment of the feasibility of merging the county's water system with Tampa, Plant City and Temple Terrace's systems. Seven private water systems in the county could also be part of the package.

"Logic will say to get everybody on board because of the economies of scale," Burton said. "You'll be fixing your inefficiencies and improving service."

Burton ticked off a list of problems with today's "fragmented" system:

•Tampa has $475 million worth of improvements the city needs to make to its water system but doesn't have the money because of the economic downturn.

•Hillsborough County's water system is split in two by Tampa's system.

•Tampa and Hillsborough County have redundant pump stations in areas where the two systems meet.

•Tampa is currently dumping about 40 million gallons of reclaimed water a day into Tampa Bay because the city can't afford a delivery system. The city faces penalties from state and federal environmental authorities for overloading the Bay with nitrogen from the treated wastewater.

•Large areas of the county are not served by any water or wastewater system.

A consolidated water system would work like this: The county and cities would sign an agreement setting up a water authority with representatives from each government. The authority would buy the four water systems using money borrowed through bond issues, and operate the unified system.

Burton said Tampa and Plant City leaders have already expressed an interest in the deal. He has not talked to Temple Terrace officials.

The main focus of the feasibility study will be putting a monetary value on each water system. The study should be completed by January, Burton said. The entire consolidation could be done by September 2010 if the four governments reach an agreement.