Both the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners and Tampa Bay Water Board of Directors have approved a new point of connection between the two systems to help bring much-needed water to south Hillsborough County. A point of connection represents the end of the regional wholesale system and the beginning of the retail utility system. The County’s newly approved point of connection will be at the home of its new South County Potable Water Treatment Plant, at the intersection of Balm and Balm Riverview roads on property being acquired by Hillsborough County.
Tampa Bay Water will be designing and building a new pipeline to serve this new point of connection. Anticipated to be online in 2028, the first portion (Pipeline A) of the pipeline will connect Tampa Bay Water’s Surface Water Treatment Plant to the Lithia Water Treatment Plant and offer system redundancy. The second portion (Pipeline B) will connect the regional system to the new point of connection near the County’s Lithia Water Treatment Plant.
With the point of connection established, Tampa Bay Water and Hillsborough County can finalize a joint project agreement for pipeline Segment B and proceed with pipeline design. Tampa Bay Water is responsible for Segment A, which estimated at $178.9 million. Hillsborough County is responsible for Segment B, which is estimated at $126.2 million. Staff has applied for co-funding from the Southwest Florida Water Management District for both segments for a total of $145 million, inclusive of the nearly 4.5 million allocated for fiscal year 2022. District co-funding for segment B would bring the County’s portion to $66.2 million.
