Nearly every Friday morning for the last 30 years, Warren Hogg traded in his cowboy boots for flippers to volunteer at the Florida Aquarium. He can be found in the big tank, waving hello to the aquarium’s first visitors of the day as sharks and schools of fish float by.
“This is so peaceful. To get in and work and interact with the animals,” Hogg said. “It’s a great way to start the day.”
Water has been the focal point of Warren’s career at Tampa Bay Water for the last 37 years. And this year—he’s celebrating 30 years of volunteer work at the Aquarium. He volunteers his time to help clean the exhibits and help maintain the habitats.
“They all have their own personalities,” he said. “It’s fun to go see my friends every Friday.”
When you’re that dedicated—it doesn’t go unnoticed. Last month Bay News 9 and ABC Action News captured Warren’s passion for marine life and how it so closely ties into his work at Tampa Bay Water.
Prior to Tampa Bay Water’s creation, groundwater was the only regional drinking water source. Rapid population growth and concentrated groundwater withdrawals combined with a multi-year drought, increased urbanization and changes in surface water flow patterns, caused damage to the surrounding environment. Some lakes and wetlands in the area completely dried up, significantly harming the natural ecosystem and causing much public concern.
The solution was the creation of Tampa Bay Water and investing more than $2 billion in regional water supply infrastructure, including adding river water and seawater sources to make up for reductions in groundwater pumping.
It’s hard to overstate the impact Warren has had on measuring the recovery of Tampa Bay’s environment. Warren and his team, along with the Southwest Florida Water Management District, were instrumental in setting up a monitoring program to measure the recovery from reduced groundwater pumping. Every environmental system surrounding the consolidated permit wellfields fully recovered—a milestone Tampa Bay Water achieved in 2021. That recovery spans an incredible 1,360 lakes and wetlands across northern Tampa Bay.
Now, most aquifer levels across the northern Tampa Bay area are at their highest in more than 40 years. The Recovery Assessment, a multi-year study of environmental health and the effects of its wellfield pumping reductions, was the first of its kind to be performed in the United States and proved the efforts of Tampa Bay Water and Southwest Florida Water Management District were a success.
Hogg first started working at Tampa Bay Water (formerly the West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority) in 1987 as a temporary employee doing data entry projects while getting his graduate degree. Now, he proudly holds the title of Chief Science Officer.
In the decades he’s worked for Tampa Bay Water, while his titles have changed, his Friday morning ritual stayed the same. When he’s in the big tank scrubbing down the corals and cleaning the massive acrylic window— it’s a completely different scene than his office in Clearwater.
“The best part is the peace. No phones, no meetings, no computers,” he said.
He trades in board presentation slide decks for waves from smiling kids on the other side of the tank. Little do those faces know, those waves come from one of the people responsible for providing safe and clean water across the region. How he spends his free time is a clear reflection of his commitment to protecting water in and out of the tank. Because when Hogg isn’t working with water, he’s working in water. To read and watch Bay News 9's coverage, click here.
