Nov. 5, 2000 (St.Petersburg Times)—Clearwater city commissioners have put themselves in the driver's seat on a proposal to form a partnership with Tampa Bay Water — a partnership that could eventually result in the construction of a new advanced-treatment water plant near Clearwater Airpark.
The partnership and the new water plant may turn out to be a great deal for the city, but for now, city commissioners sent an important signal that they will not be pressured into a hasty decision by Tampa Bay Water.
On the table at Thursday night's commission meeting was whether the city should join Tampa Bay Water in a 60-day, $700,000 study to determine the feasibility and costs of building a new water plant. The plant would boost the quantity of drinking water produced by city wells and also improve the quality and taste of the water.
Clearwater's wells produce only 3-million of the 15-million gallons used in the city daily. The water is disinfected with chlorine. What Clearwater doesn't produce, it must buy from Pinellas County.
Tampa Bay Water, the region's water wholesaler, must reduce pumping in 11 well fields by 2002 because of environmental damage and also is facing a supply crisis caused by the drought. The agency needs new water sources in a hurry.
So it came to Clearwater with the idea of building a water plant that would allow the city to draw 2-million gallons more a day from underground — water that is not of sufficient quality to use now because of the city's limited treatment method. At the new treatment plant, water would be forced through high-tech synthetic membranes to clean and soften it.
Tampa Bay Water officials floated the idea at Monday's City Commission work session. They want the city to agree to contribute $270,000 toward the study by a consultant the agency selects. Then, if the city wants the plant, Tampa Bay Water will build it next year and sell it to the city at an undetermined cost.
Tampa Bay Water wants to cram this process, which normally takes 18 to 24 months, into one year. Agency officials said they needed a decision on the study from commissioners by Thursday.
In an almost two-hour discussion Thursday, commissioners grilled the agency and city staffs with some good questions and demanded justification for the rushed timetable. In the end, Mayor Brian Aungst and Commissioner Ed Hooper were satisfied enough with the answers to support going ahead with the study. But commissioners J.B. Johnson, Ed Hart and Bob Clark put on the brakes, saying they didn't have enough details about the costs and benefits. They decided to continue the discussion at a Nov. 13 meeting.
Tampa Bay Water officials were frustrated and city staffers seemed uncertain what to do next, pointing out that without the consultant's study, they can't provide more specific numbers.
But the delay will give city commissioners time to do more homework before voting. The county's only existing reverse-osmosis treatment plant is next door in Dunedin, and officials there are potential resources for Clearwater commissioners. There also is a vast amount of published material on membrane-treatment technology.
During the break, commissioners may want to mull whether they would even be interested in buying a water plant built by someone else's choice of consultants and contractors.
They also can get more explanation about pros and cons of the city producing more of its own water, about the sufficiency of the city's existing well fields and piping, and about the impact on the city budget if bonds must be issued in 2002 to buy the plant.
For now, all commissioners must do is decide whether to stick a toe in the water, committing only $270,000 toward no more than a study. It isn't a big leap. But by the time they make that decision, they will know a lot more about the subject than they did last week, and they will have demonstrated that they know the importance of due diligence — even when someone seems to be offering a deal you can't refuse.
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