Downstream Augmentation:
“Recycling” Water To Meet Growing Needs

An innovative project will redirect reclaimed water from Tampa’s Howard F. Curren Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant to supplement flows on area rivers, while enabling more water to be withdrawn upstream for public use.

For many families, recycling common household goods, from aluminum cans and glass bottles to newspapers, is part of an every-day regimen. But few residents are aware that Tampa Bay also is a national leader in recycling water, allowing residents in some neighborhoods to use highly treated wastewater for irrigation.

A new Downstream Augmentation Project takes the region’s recycling efforts a step further, creating a system that reuses water to increase potable water supplies while keeping our rivers healthy. The project is part of an innovative regional plan to reclaim wastewater being pursued by Tampa Bay Water, the state’s largest wholesale water supplier, with the support of the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the City of Tampa as well as Pasco and Hillsborough counties.

The project will provide reclaimed water to rivers downstream from where drinking water is collected. The highly treated water will help maintain the flow of freshwater necessary for the rivers to thrive. At the same time, downstream augmentation will allow Tampa Bay Water to increase the region's drinking water supply by 13 to 17 million gallons per day. Highly treated reclaimed water from the City of Tampa’s Howard F. Curren Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant), which is currently being released into Tampa Bay, will be added to the Hillsborough River and the Tampa Bypass Canal, replacing water withdrawn upstream for public use.

Downstream augmentation is important because our region will need an additional 8 to 12 million gallons per day through 2017. Current water supplies can adequately serve the area’s population near term.

However, new, environmentally sustainable water supplies must be developed to protect our region’s economic vitality and treasured natural resources.

Ensuring that the project is environmentally and technically viable is a primary goal. An extensive monitoring program already is in place to protect the water resources and ensure reclaimed water quality. The City of Tampa has excellent water quality and reliability records for its reclaimed water facilities. Additionally, reclaimed water will undergo ultraviolet disinfection before it is released.

The project team has held two technical workshops with environmental managers, including the Tampa Bay Estuary Program and the Agency on Bay Management. Tampa Bay Water also has asked for input in a community meeting as well as small-group and one-on-one meetings with interested stakeholders.

Tampa Bay Water and local governments have submitted a permit application for augmentation points below the Hillsborough River dam and below Structure 169 on the Bypass Canal to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission for review. Multiple opportunities for public comment will be scheduled before the review process is complete in late 2006. If the permit is approved, construction is expected to begin in June 2008 with project completion in February 2011.

The estimated project cost is $186 million, including ultraviolet disinfection as well as portions of the pipelines, pumping and storage facilities which may be shared with the regional project partners. Southwest Florida Water Management District has agreed to fund up to half of the eligible costs, the Florida Legislature approved $4 million for the regional reclaimed plan of which the Downstream Augmentation Project is a part, and it will be a candidate for additional state and federal funding.

For more information, please visit Tampa Bay Water at www.tampabaywater.org.

Nearly 300 volunteers planted 22,250 plugs of salt marsh grass along the shores of Cockroach Bay as part of the largest salt marsh planting in Tampa Bay history. The marsh grass, including some grown by students as part of the award-winning Bay Grasses in Classes program, help stabilize the shoreline and provide habitat for wildlife in the Cockroach By Preserve. The event, coordinated by Tampa Bay Watch, the Southwest Florida Water Management District Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) Program and Hillsborough County-Cockroach Bay Nature Preserve, is the eighth phase of a cooperative restoration initiative.