Tampa Bay Water’s Master Water Plan is the blueprint to meet the region's water needs. The first configuration of Master Water Plan projects was approved for construction in October 1998. This first set of projects was needed to offset major reduction in groundwater pumping from long-producing wellfields and to meet the region's growing water needs through the development of geographically diverse, alternative drinking water sources.
To date, these goals have been met. New water supply development has enabled Tampa Bay Water to reduce groundwater pumping from a permitted average of 158 million
gallons a day (mgd) to 121 mgd in 2003. Further reductions to 90 mgd annual average are required be the end of 2008. The Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant will help the utility meet that goal by delivering a drought-proof, environmentally sound water supply.
The desalination plant creates a new source of drinking water by removing salt from seawater.
When operating at full capacity, the plant will provide 25 mgd of new drinking
water and can be expanded to provide 35 mgd in the future.
The desalinated product water is blended with water from other, less
expensive water supply sources, reducing costs to member governments and consumers.
Construction of the facility created approximately 447 jobs, 370 of which
were in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties. Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination
Plant directly employs 19 workers. According to a Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council
economic impact study, construction and operation of the facility will add
$550 million in economic activity statewide and $482 million regionally in
the next 30 years. It is also expected to contribute $10 to $24 million annually
to Florida’s gross regional product.
Independent studies commissioned by Tampa Bay Water and Hillsborough County
have found both the desalination plant’s operation and discharge of
concentrated seawater are safe for Tampa Bay, its marine ecology and the region’s
environment.
In 1998, Tampa Bay Water became a wholesale water supply utility created
to develop, store and supply water for Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties
as well as the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa. They,
in turn, distribute the water they purchase from Tampa Bay Water to homes,
businesses and other cities. Tampa Bay Water is a wholesale government supplier.
It is funded through the sale of water and has no taxing authority.
In addition to being the region’s wholesale water supplier, Tampa
Bay Water was also charged with reducing environmental impacts
caused by concentrated water withdrawals. To accomplish this, a long-term
Master Water Plan was adopted to develop diverse new water sources such as
desalinated seawater, surface water and a regional
reservoir to store surface water during wet times for use during dry times.
In
1998, when Tampa Bay Water was formed, the agency and its member
governments entered into a Partnership Agreement with SWFWMD. That agreement,
along with the contracts creating Tampa Bay Water, call for reducing
groundwater pumping from 11 long-producing regional facilities
and replacing that water with a variety of alternative water supplies. To
help offset the capital cost of replacement supplies, SWFWMD earmarked $183
million in ad valorem taxes for eligible non-groundwater projects, including the desalination plant, for which Tampa Bay Water will receive $85 million
of the project’s eligible
capital costs.
In
1995, Tampa Bay Water’s predecessor, the West Coast
Regional Water Supply Authority, approved a Master Water Plan
that included seawater desalination as one of several new sources of drinking
water for the region. Deciding to take advantage of the private sector’s
expertise by finding a commercial developer that would design,
build, own and operate a desalination facility and sell the Authority
its water at a predetermined price, the Authority issued a Request for Proposals
(RFP) in 1997.
The RFP, which included the possible transfer of ownership of the plant
to the Authority at a later date, envisioned a desalination facility
that could produce 20 to 50 mgd of drinking water. The Authority would blend
the desalinated water with drinking water from other sources and supply it
to the agency’s member governments – Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas
counties and the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and
Tampa.
Developers who responded to the RFP were allowed to select their own plant
site, facility size and operations and method of seawater desalination.
Six developer teams submitted proposals and four finalists were selected with
the Authority’s engineering consultant, PB Water, a division of Parsons
Brinckerhoff Quade and Douglas, Inc., analyzing and ranking proposals
based on a number of criteria including environmental impact, ability to meet
water quality requirements, economic feasibility, permittability and design.
In August 1998, as negotiations with prospective developers continued, the
Authority became Tampa Bay Water. The developers’ Best and Final Offers
were submitted in February 1999. PB Water ranked developer teams
using an evaluation criteria matrix.
In July 1999, Tampa Bay Water’s board of directors
awarded the final water purchase agreement for the construction and operation
of a 25-mgd seawater desalination plant that could be expanded to provide
35 mgd, to S & W Water, LLC, a partnership between Stone & Webster
and Poseidon Resources Corp. In June 2000, Stone & Webster declared
bankruptcy, after which Poseidon acquired 100 percent of S & W Water.
Poseidon replaced Stone & Webster with Covanta (formerly Ogden) in 2001
and changed the consortium’s name to Tampa Bay Desal.
In
December of 2001, Covanta Energy failed to post a required construction
bond for the project. As a consequence, the sale of private
bonds to fund the privately owned project was postponed. By March 2002, Tampa
Bay Water determined that it was in the region’s best interest to accelerate the
purchase of the project from Tampa Bay Desal. On March 22, 2002, Tampa Bay
Water’s board of directors authorized the agency to purchase the project
in order to secure long-term financing under its own name and
excellent credit rating. At this point, the project was fully
designed, permitted and construction was 30 percent complete. Tampa Bay Water
finalized the purchase of the project from Tampa Bay Desal, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Poseidon Resources, Inc. on May 15, 2002.
This means that the project, which began as a design-build-own-operate-transfer
procurement arrangement, then became similar to a design-build-operate procurement
where Tampa Bay Water, as owner, contracted with Covanta Tampa Construction
to build the plant to a specified performance level and with Covanta Tampa
Bay, Inc. to operate the facility.
Under
the contractual agreement to design and build the plant, Covanta
Tampa Construction and its principle subcontractor, Hydranautics, were obligated
not only for the plant’s construction, but for the plant’s performance.
To prove that the plant met specific contractual parameters for water quality,
power use, chemical use and more, Covanta Tampa Construction was required
to run a 14-day acceptance test. In May 2003, Covanta failed the required
test due to a number of deficiencies. Tampa Bay Water extended Covanta’s
deadline for completion of the acceptance test to Sept. 30, 2003
to allow the contractor time to repair the deficiencies and achieve
a successful performance test. Over the summer of 2003, Covanta addressed
14 of the 31 identified deficiencies, but failed to meet the Sept. 30, 2003
deadline. As a result, Tampa Bay Water issued a notice of default to the contractor
on Oct. 1, 2003.
Tampa Bay Water was prepared to terminate its contract with Covanta on Nov.
17, 2003, due to Covanta’s continued inability to remedy the plant,.
However, Covanta Tampa Construction declared bankruptcy on Oct. 29, 2003,
in order to prevent Tampa Bay Water from terminating its contract.
Throughout
January 2004 and facing a trial in bankruptcy court, Tampa Bay
Water and Covanta Tampa Construction worked to find mutually acceptable terms
to resolve Covanta’s bankruptcy during a court-ordered mediation. As
a result, a settlement agreement was reached and approved by Tampa Bay Water’s
board of directors on Feb. 9, 2004. The board approved the settlement because
it protects the public’s investment in the desalination facility.
With the settlement agreement, Tampa Bay Water gained full control of the
facility, including the operating contract, for less than the construction
contract amount of $79 million. Overall, the settlement was a win for Tampa
Bay Water as Covanta spent $91 million to build the plant, and Tampa Bay Water
paid them $75.5 million for the plant, including the reported settlement amount
of $4.4 million from the project’s $7.9 million retained reserves.
The settlement also included release of $550,000 from the project’s
reserves to pay outstanding subcontractor invoices whose payment was frozen
due to Covanta’s bankruptcy. Under the settlement, Tampa Bay Water retained
its and Covanta’s rights to pursue the $24 million performance bond
that guarantees the plant’s performance.
While the Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant produced nearly 5 billion gallons of water since March 2003, it did not meet contractual design standards due to a number of deficiencies.
Modifications to the plant were necessary to ensure adequate pretreatment and prevent filters and membranes from clogging too quickly. In addition to the deficient pretreatment process, there were also significant deficiencies in plant design, the manufacture of plant components, as well as the RO and post-treatment processes.
In March 2004, two competing firms pilot tested alternative pretreatment processes. At the end of the testing period, each firm recommended possible remedies and capital costs and long-term operating costs associated with their solutions. The two teams submitted proposals in July 2004. Tampa Bay Water staff and consultants analyzed the proposals and ranked the American Water-Pridesa proposal highest. After successfully negotiating a contract with the team, Tampa Bay Water’s board approved the contract in November 2004.
American Water-Pridesa operated and maintained the plant from January through June 2005, when it was taken out of service for remediation activities. Remediation construction was completed in Spring 2007, and afterward, American Water-Pridesa focused on start-up, testing and refinement of the various processes. The plant is now fully operational after passing a rigorous 14-day acceptance test.
Tampa
Bay Water, Florida’s largest wholesale water supplier,
providing drinking water to its member governments - Hillsborough, Pasco and
Pinellas counties and the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa
- owns the project. Drinking water produced at the plant will be blended with
drinking water produced by other Tampa Bay Water projects before being delivered
to the agency’s member governments. Member governments then provide
the water to area residents and organizations through their water
municipalities.
The Southwest Florida Water Management
District, the
agency responsible for managing the public’s water resources
in 16 counties of west-central Florida, will provide $85
million in installments to Tampa Bay Water for eligible capital costs of the facility
. [
http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us]
American Water-Pridesa leads remediation efforts and plant operations for Tampa Bay Water. With a history of over 100 years, American Water provides high quality water, wastewater, and other related services, serving 18 million customers in 29 US states, and three Canadian provinces. American Water is part of RWE Thames Water, and through their combined expertise, it continues the tradition of providing customers with superior quality service while gaining access to new technologies, research and development, and global experience in service, customer satisfaction and security. [http://www.amwater.com] Pridesa has designed and built over 50 desalination facilities around the world, and are currently operating over 30 plants. www.pridesa.com
Tampa Electric Company, in Tampa, is leasing an 8.5-acre site to the project and will also provide electricity and source water for the desalination plant. [http://www.tampaelectric.com]