The "Southwest Florida Water Management District's(Southwest Florida Water Management District)":/ "Governing Board(Governing Board)":/about/governingboard voted to renew Tampa Bay Water's 90 million-gallon-per-day northern Tampa Bay consolidated water use permit for 10 years while continuing extensive environmental monitoring.
Tampa Bay Water's consolidated permit was first issued in December 1998 and is made up of 11 wellfield facilities in Pasco County as well as northern Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. In the 1990s, withdrawals from these wellfields were determined to be causing adverse impacts to lakes and wetlands in the northern Tampa Bay area.
As a result, the "District(Southwest Florida Water Management District)":/, "Tampa Bay Water(Tampa Bay Water)":http://www.tampabaywater.org and its member governments entered into the historic Partnership Agreement in 1998 to begin developing alternative water supplies, such as the desalination plant and the regional reservoir, to reduce pumping from the wellfields. The original consolidated permit was issued for 158 million gallons per day (mgd) with planned reductions of 121 mgd by 2003 and 90 mgd by 2008. These reductions were achieved through the development of the alternative water supplies.
As part of the Partnership Agreement, the District's Governing Board also adopted a recovery strategy. Although the reductions in groundwater withdrawals over the past 10 years have resulted in improvements in groundwater levels and flows, many wetlands, lakes, streams, springs and aquifer levels are still recovering. In preparation for the permit renewal, the Governing Board adopted the second phase of the recovery strategy last spring. The District's goal is to continue evaluating the amount of environmental recovery that can be achieved over the next 10 years while withdrawals remain at 90 mgd.
The consolidated permit renewal includes extensive environmental controls, monitoring and reporting. Some of the key components of the permit include:
* Requirements for when the regional reservoir is offline for repairs.
* An Operations Plan that outlines how withdrawals will be made to minimize environmental stress.
* An Environmental Management Plan to continue monitoring and assessing environmental systems in the Northern Tampa Bay area.
* A mitigation plan to implement mitigation projects on priority water bodies.
* Reporting on Tampa Bay Water member governments' water conservation efforts.
* A Permit Recovery Assessment Plan that includes an evaluation of the water resource and environmental system recovery. This plan is due prior to the next permit renewal.
The consolidated permit expires on January 25, 2021.
Tampa Bay Water, a regional wholesale water supplier, provides water to Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties, as well as the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa. Other cities in the three-county area receive at least some of their water from these six public supply systems.
A copy of the permit is available in the Jan. 25 Governing Board Notebook on the District's web site at "WaterMatters.org/calendar/(Events Calendar)":/calendar. Click on the "Meetings & events calendar" and then scroll down to the notebook.
Tampa Bay Water's consolidated permit was first issued in December 1998 and is made up of 11 wellfield facilities in Pasco County as well as northern Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. In the 1990s, withdrawals from these wellfields were determined to be causing adverse impacts to lakes and wetlands in the northern Tampa Bay area.
As a result, the "District(Southwest Florida Water Management District)":/, "Tampa Bay Water(Tampa Bay Water)":http://www.tampabaywater.org and its member governments entered into the historic Partnership Agreement in 1998 to begin developing alternative water supplies, such as the desalination plant and the regional reservoir, to reduce pumping from the wellfields. The original consolidated permit was issued for 158 million gallons per day (mgd) with planned reductions of 121 mgd by 2003 and 90 mgd by 2008. These reductions were achieved through the development of the alternative water supplies.
As part of the Partnership Agreement, the District's Governing Board also adopted a recovery strategy. Although the reductions in groundwater withdrawals over the past 10 years have resulted in improvements in groundwater levels and flows, many wetlands, lakes, streams, springs and aquifer levels are still recovering. In preparation for the permit renewal, the Governing Board adopted the second phase of the recovery strategy last spring. The District's goal is to continue evaluating the amount of environmental recovery that can be achieved over the next 10 years while withdrawals remain at 90 mgd.
The consolidated permit renewal includes extensive environmental controls, monitoring and reporting. Some of the key components of the permit include:
* Requirements for when the regional reservoir is offline for repairs.
* An Operations Plan that outlines how withdrawals will be made to minimize environmental stress.
* An Environmental Management Plan to continue monitoring and assessing environmental systems in the Northern Tampa Bay area.
* A mitigation plan to implement mitigation projects on priority water bodies.
* Reporting on Tampa Bay Water member governments' water conservation efforts.
* A Permit Recovery Assessment Plan that includes an evaluation of the water resource and environmental system recovery. This plan is due prior to the next permit renewal.
The consolidated permit expires on January 25, 2021.
Tampa Bay Water, a regional wholesale water supplier, provides water to Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties, as well as the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa. Other cities in the three-county area receive at least some of their water from these six public supply systems.
A copy of the permit is available in the Jan. 25 Governing Board Notebook on the District's web site at "WaterMatters.org/calendar/(Events Calendar)":/calendar. Click on the "Meetings & events calendar" and then scroll down to the notebook.