Who:Southwest Florida Water Management District staff
What: The District is installing a pump and pipes at the Morris Bridge Sink. The pump system will allow the District to test to see if it is feasible to pump water from the sink to augment the Hillsborough River. In addition, the water pumped from the sink will be made available to Tampa Bay Water as a water supply source.
When: Friday, April 3, 10 a.m.
Where: Morris Bridge Sink, just east of I-75 and the Tampa Bypass Canal
Why:As part of the District’s Lower Hillsborough River minimum flow recovery strategy, the District must have a permanent pump station in operation at the sink by October 2012. The permanent pump station will be used to pump water from the sink into the Hillsborough River via the Tampa Bypass Canal to maintain minimum flows when necessary. The District adopted the recovery strategy in August 2007.
The pump test will take place for one month. The proposed pumping rate will be 4 million gallons-per-day. The purpose of the test is to see how much water can be pumped from the sink without adverse impacts to the environment and local residents. The quality of the water being pumped from the sink will also be tested.
Because of the drought, Tampa Bay Water has asked the District to use water from the Morris Bridge Sink as an emergency water supply source following the test.
District Contact: Robyn Felix, 800-423-1476, ext. 4770
Directions: Take I-75 to Fletcher Ave./CR 582A. Travel east on CR 582A about a half mile. The sink is on the right, across from Trout Creek Park.