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Oldsmar Continuing Water Plant Planning

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By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: November 10, 2007

OLDSMAR, Fla. - OLDSMAR, Fla. - The city is committed to being water independent by 2010.

The city's plan to construct a $16 million reverse-osmosis treatment plant, which would produce about 2 million gallons of desalinated drinking water a day from brackish well water, is on track, according to City Manager Bruce Haddock.

The city uses about 1.6 million gallons a day in potable water it buys from Pinellas County Utilities. The city wants to build the 2 mgd reverse-osmosis plant to accommodate future growth, Haddock says.

The project has gone through many hurdles in recent years.

For example, the Legislature put grant money into the state budget to pay for the project only to have the funding cut by Gov. Charlie Crist and, before that, Crist's gubernatorial predecessor, Jeb Bush.

Undaunted, the city will keep trying to secure state funding. Plans are to pay for the project with a low interest state loan, said John Mulvihill, the public works director.

"We remain committed to being able to produce our own drinking water," Mulvihill said this week.

The city, for example, is planning to seek a loan through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP sets aside money for water plant construction projects, he said.

In addition, the city has a lot of different activities related to the water plant going on behind the scenes at the same time, according to Mulvihill.

For example, the blueprints for a production well are being finalized, he said adding, the design of the treatment plant is scheduled to start soon.

In the meantime, the city will seek its final permit for the plant's injection well. The injection well will return to the underground the briny byproduct of the reverse-osmosis process.

Further, Mulvihill says, the results of testing on exploratory wells were good.

The city is completing its environmental monitoring plan and will soon seek a firm to supply treatment equipment and monitor the environmental component.

Bids will be sought for a firm to construct production wells in April 2008, and the city will chose a firm to build the treatment plant in early 2009.

That should lead to a 2010 production start of drinking water from the plant, according to Mulvihill.

Last year, the city decided to purchase its water solely from the county and eliminate the city of St. Petersburg as a source. St. Petersburg's wholesale rates were too high, Mulvihill said.

The city now faces a 3 percent to 4 percent wholesale water rate increase from the county each year until the wells are constructed, he says. Once the plant is online, water costs should be stabilized.

On related fronts, the public works director said the city is moving forward with plans to extend reclaimed waste-water service into the downtown redevelopment area.

The city is also studying a method by which it can store underground 200 million gallons of reclaimed water during periods of low demand.

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