Tampa Bay Water Seeks Public Input on Potential South Hillsborough Wellfield

CLEARWATER – Tampa Bay Water is considering a new wellfield in southern Hillsborough County to meet growing water needs and wants residents’ feedback. Residents can learn about the project by watching a video at tampabaywater.org/shw, and then provide their input through a brief online survey.

The Tampa Bay region will need 10-20 million gallons of new water per day for 2028-2038 to meet the needs of its growing population. Tampa Bay Water, the region’s wholesale water utility, is investigating several options to fulfill that need, including a new 7.5-million-gallon per day wellfield in south Hillsborough County using groundwater withdrawal credits from the County’s South Hillsborough Aquifer Recharge Project, or SHARP.

Public input is an important consideration for any new project the utility undertakes.

“Your voice counts,” said Brandon Moore, public communications manager for Tampa Bay Water. “The 15 minutes you spend watching the video and answering the survey provides us valuable feedback we can share with the project team and will inform our board as they make their decisions on the next water projects.”

Tampa Bay Water will also hold a virtual public meeting on the potential new wellfield Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. to speak with residents live. The video gives residents the opportunity to learn about the project at their leisure and prepare questions ahead of the meeting. Pre-registration is required to attend the meeting. To register, visit tampabaywater.org/shw.

Tampa Bay Water’s board of directors will consider public input, along with results from ongoing feasibility studies, when selecting the region's next water supply project in December 2022.