Tampa Bay Water’s Seawater Desalination Plant is co-located with the Big Bend Power Plant in Apollo Beach. The facility is supplied with up to 50 million gallons per day (mgd) of seawater from the power plant’s cooling supply to produce up to 25 mgd of high-quality drinking water. Since late 2007, the desalination plant has produced more than 33.4 billion gallons of drinking water.
The desalination plant was designed to accommodate future expansion. The power plant’s cooling supply could provide more water to the desalination plant to yield an additional 10 mgd of drinking water.
Click to enlarge map.
Tampa Bay Water conducted focus groups, public opinion surveys, telephone town halls and speakers bureau presentations to obtain input used in the Long-term Master Water Plan. Public outreach will continue for those projects selected for continued evaluation.
This project is one of three top-ranked projects under further evaluation to meet the region’s drinking water needs in the 2028 timeframe. The potential projects are the culmination of five years of analysis though Tampa Bay Water’s Long-term Master Water Plan. This 20-year framework for meeting the region’s future drinking water needs includes analyses of future demand, conservation potential, supply reliability, water shortage mitigation planning and hydrologic uncertainty along with potential water supply projects to ensure adequate drinking water in the future.
NEED: 10 million gallons per day by 2028
SOURCE: Seawater
PROJECT YIELD: 10 million gallons per day
KEY POINTS: expands existing facility; proven technology; permittable; droughtproof supply; near high-growth area water
