The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Governing Board approved funding for two reclaimed water studies to maximize the beneficial use of reclaimed water in the region.
The first study is for a traditional reclaimed water supply project that would involve constructing a pipeline from one or more of several waste water treatment plants to the Tampa Electric Company (TECO) power plant station in Polk County and Mosaic Fertilizer. Possible sources of the reclaimed water will be the city of Lakeland waste water treatment plant, which could include contributions from Polk County, and waste water treatment plants in Hillsborough County (Valrico) and Plant City.
The District and TECO will co-fund the study, which would determine how much it would cost to construct a pipeline from each wastewater treatment plant. The study is expected to cost approximately $50,000 and will take about 90 days to complete.
The second study will determine the feasibility of using reclaimed water for an aquifer recharge project in southern Hillsborough County and western Polk County. The potential project would create opportunities for additional potable groundwater withdrawals in the region by recharging the Upper Floridan Aquifer with highly treated reclaimed water, similar to a project being implemented in Orange County, CA.
This study is expected to cost up to $500,000 and is expected to be complete by March 31, 2009.
These studies are the result of several partnership meetings being held between the District and representatives of the cities of Lakeland, Plant City and Tampa; Hillsborough and Polk counties; Mosaic; TECO; Tampa Bay Water and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.