Water Infrastructure and Supply Enhancement Project Phases I & II

Hillsborough County, FL

The Water Infrastructure and Supply Enhancement (WISE) Project is a multi-phased project that will provide a detailed assessment of the state of the County’s water resources, regulatory climate, current and future water demand and identify potential options for water supply and/or reclaimed water infrastructure improvements that will benefit the water supplies of the tri-county area including Hillsborough County, Pasco County, and Pinellas County all served by the TBW Central Water Supply Wellfield system

The project included a Phase I Feasibility Study to identify water supply options that will be preliminary evaluated ranked, and recommended for detailed engineering design and future development in the Phase II portion of the Project. Phase I components consisted of the following:

         Phase I Component                                                                                         Evaluation & Ranking Criteria

I.              Hydrologic and Water Resource Data                                            Permittability

II.             Water Supply Development Regulatory Overview                       Unit Cost

III.            Current and Future Water Use Estimates                                      Public Acceptance

IV.           Water Supply Project Feasibility Analysis                                      Environmental Impact

Implementation Period

For WISE Phase II, WRA performed an in-depth feasibility evaluation of the four highest ranked alternative source water supply projects identified in Phase I. The evaluations focused on three reclaimed water projects and one groundwater exchange program.

Detailed permitting and environmental investigations were performed to identify any fatal flaws to project implementation.  Finally, costs were identified including all capital and O&M cost to produce the finished product water.

The highest ranked project included an innovative method of capturing and reusing wet weather reclaimed water that was previous discharge to Tampa Bay.  An abandoned, utilized phosphate quarry wet utilized to create a reclaimed water reservoir and infiltration basin for wet weather flows.  The infiltrated reclaimed water will be credited by the SWFWMD as a groundwater recharge quantity for future withdrawals.  The project also provided a regional component to allow reclaimed water from the City of Tampa and Plant City to be discharged to the reservoir and used by Hillsborough County.  The project also achieved an additional benefit of reducing the TMDL for the Alafia River and achieving a zero discharge for the Hillsborough County wastewater facilities.

Project Manager:                                 Mark Farrell

Regulatory Evaluations:                     Pete Hubbell

Geologic Evaluations:                        Andy Smith

Hydrologic Evaluations:                    Joe Cimino

Nick Nichols

Status:                                                    Final Report Completed – October 2005