In February of 1997 an odyssey of near epic proportion began with Tampa Bay Water's
issuance of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a developer of a private large-scale
seawater desalination plant to provide a "drought proof" water supply for its three county
service area. The proposals were received in February 1999 and the reported
price for delivered desalinated water of $1.71 per thousand gallons began an irrevocable
change to the American Water Industry. The arduous procurement process resulted in the
selection in March 1999 of the top-ranked developer, Stone and Webster (S&W) Water, LLC.
The
Tampa Bay Water Board approved the Water Purchase Agreement (WPA) with S&W
Water, LLC, on July 19, 1999 for the development of a 25 million gallon per day
seawater desalination facility.
The background within which Tampa Bay Water sought the development of the seawater
desalination project began with the West Coast Regional Water Authority's "Water Wars." The Water Wars
involved the quest for groundwater in the coastal Tampa Bay area and the political and
legal battles between those that used and needed the water and those whose resources
were being consumed and the environment impacted. The outcome of the Water Wars
was the reorganization in June 1998 of the old West Coast Regional Water Authority into
Tampa Bay Water.
As part of the reorganization, Tampa Bay Water entered into the "Northern Tampa Bay
New Water Supply and Groundwater Withdrawal Reduction Agreement" ("Partnership
Agreement") with the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD). In
accordance with the Partnership Agreement, Tampa Bay Water developed the Master
Water Plan to develop new alternative, preferably non-groundwater, sources of drinking
water totaling an annual average permitted production capacity of at least 85 million
gallons per day (mgd). The "carrot" for Tampa Bay Water was $183 million dollars of
funding from SWFWMD to help pay for the new sources. The "stick" was the potential
for fines of up to $10,000 per day per well for well fields in violation of the pumping
limits.
The Partnership Agreement called for the phased reduction of pumping from the 11
existing wellfields as the new water sources are developed, pursuant to stringent schedule
requirements.
The risk to Tampa Bay Water of losing $183 million in funding and being potentially
liable for many millions more in fines was especially daunting given the price tag of the
new Master Water Plan was $619 million. The Master Water Plan projects cover an area
of about 1,000 square miles, and includes 85 miles of large diameter pipelines. The
Master Water Plan's three major components are: a 25 mgd seawater desalination
plant; a 66 mgd regional surface water treatment plant; and, a 15 billion gallon off-line
reservoir. Fiscally managing the Master Water Plan's projects, inclusive of the
SWFWMD funding, would require a significant program of rate increases to Tampa Bay
Water's customers. Tampa Bay Water's policy managers would therefore be highly
focused on meeting the programs project schedule and bringing in the projects on budget.
Because of the short schedule for project delivery and a desire to reduce risks and costs,
Tampa Bay Water originally selected the Design-Build-Own-Operate-Transfer
(DBOOT) project delivery method for the seawater desalination treatment plant. By
utilizing the DBOOT approach, Tampa Bay Water expected to realize substantial benefits
for its member governments. These benefits included the transfer of the project
technology risk to the private developer, have access to innovative design skills, and
receive long-term facility operations and maintenance cost efficiencies and guaranties. Includes table, figure.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 350 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 15 |
| Published : | 06/17/2004 |
