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Desal Plant Back Up After Shutdown

America Water/Predisa (2007)

Last week's burst pipe was one of a number of operational setback encountered since the Apollo Beach plant opened in 2003.

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By SUSAN M. GREEN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2008

APOLLO BEACH - The Tampa Bay Water desalination plant was shut down for about four days last week after an internal pipe burst, but that doesn't signal a return to the troubled days of a sputtering facility, officials said.

A memorandum went to the water supplier's board members June 19 listing problems with plant operations that have slowed production this month. The most serious was the June 18 rupture of a pipe that feeds treated saltwater to the reverse osmosis filters, said Chuck Carden, operations and facilities manager for Tampa Bay Water.

The plant had to be taken off-line until about 11:30 a.m. Sunday, when it cranked back into production, Carden said. Other repairs this month reduced production but did not close the plant, he added.

The plant is on target to meet expectations tied to about $93 million in state funding from the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

"It's running quite well," Tampa Bay Water spokeswoman Michelle Rapp said Monday. "With any kind of water treatment plant ... you have these repair and maintenance issues come up from time to time."

She said the plant is designed to yield about 25 million gallons of drinking water a day by straining salt from Hillsborough Bay inflow to the facility at Big Bend. It provides about 10 percent of the Tampa Bay region's potable water needs.

The plant, which initially started production in 2003, has a checkered history. Problems with clogged reverse osmosis filters caused it to operate in fits and starts until Tampa Bay Water shuttered the plant in 2005 and negotiated extensive renovations. It reopened in late 2007.

Carden said this month's problems at the plant did not lead to any unauthorized discharge of pollutants or shortage of drinking water supplies.

The memo went out to advise board members of progress toward goals set to achieve state funding, Rapp said.

The water management district is scheduled to pay out its promised contribution to the drinking water source in installments based on the facility meeting certain milestones.

In January, the district paid 25 percent of $85 million pledged. In April, operators increased production to 25 million gallons daily, according to the board memo. If the plant can maintain that average for a four-month period, Tampa Bay Water will be eligible to reap $42.5 million more from the district pledge.

Rapp and Carden said they anticipate the plant will make that goal. The board memo says the plant must average about 25.5 million gallons a day to make up for the production losses earlier this month.

If the plant averages production of 12.5 million gallons over 12 consecutive months, it will qualify for the final 25 percent of the $85 million. If it produces an average of 20 million gallons daily for 12 consecutive months, the funding increases by $8 million, or the amount of interest accrued on the district appropriation since it was set aside.

Reporter Susan M. Green can be reached at (813) 865-1566 or sgreen@tampatrib.com.

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