The Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board voted unanimously today to support a non-adversarial process to resolve a dispute with Tampa Bay Water on how a seawater desalination plant will be operated.
Disagreements develop in the best of long-term relationships, said Heidi McCree, Governing Board chair. We want to work with Tampa Bay Water to resolve this issue and continue to strengthen the partnership that has led to so many successes in recent years.”
The Partnership Agreement among the District, Tampa Bay Water and its member governments has resulted in producing alternative water supplies and reducing pumping from the 11 consolidated well fields. The District is committed to continuing this success.
The Agreements dispute resolution process is an effective and constructive way to resolve our differences, said District Executive Director David L. Moore. We are committed to work diligently and in good faith with Tampa Bay Water for a successful resolution.
The dispute is over how much water the seawater desalination facility is expected to produce each year. Based on the Partnership Agreement, permits and other funding documents, the District believes that the facility is supposed to average 25 million gallons per day (mgd). Tampa Bay Water believes it should have the flexibility to reduce the quantities from the seawater facility if other requirements are being met.
The District has committed $85 million toward the facility but has not yet released any of the funds. District funds will not be disbursed until the facility is able to meet its contractual obligations and the dispute resolution is designed to ensure that this is done. The seawater plant is off-line while undergoing repairs. Its expected to begin a year of production and testing in October 2006.
The District appreciates the offer from Tampa Bay Water to jointly initiate the dispute resolution process. However, legal counsels from the District and Tampa Bay Water had agreed that the Partnership Agreement does not provide for joint initiation.