At its meeting Sept. 19, 2022, Tampa Bay Water’s board of directors selected a route segment for part of the new South Hillsborough Pipeline to meet the region’s water needs in 2028.
At the request of Hillsborough County, Tampa Bay Water’s board of directors selected the “blue” route for Segment A of the new South Hillsborough Pipeline. Segment A is approximately 18 miles long and connects Tampa Bay Water’s regional water treatment plant in Brandon to Hillsborough County’s Lithia Water Treatment Plant.
The new South Hillsborough Pipeline will be up to 72 inches in diameter and will carry up to an additional 65 million gallons per day (mgd) of water to Hillsborough County’s southern service area when complete in 2028. The pipeline will offer redundancy between the Tampa Bay Regional Surface Water Treatment Plant in Brandon and Hillsborough County’s Lithia Water Treatment Plant.
Tampa Bay Water’s engineering consultants analyzed a total of 10 routes (five northern segments and five southern segments), which resulted in a shortlist of three top-ranked consolidated routes. The routes were evaluated against 11 selection criteria, which included non-cost factors such as public inconvenience, safety, environmental impacts and permitting, as well as project cost.
A route for the southern segment of the pipeline has not yet been selected. Tampa Bay Water’s board of directors may consider Segment B at its Oct. 17, 2022, board meeting. The agenda for this board meeting will be available online Oct. 7, 2022.
The next project phase will be for Tampa Bay Water’s consulting engineers to complete the detailed design for Segment A. Tampa Bay Water has received $4.5 million in co-funding from the Southwest Florida Water Management District for preliminary design and will apply for additional funds in fiscal year 2023 and beyond.
