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Tampa Bay Water taps new source for south Hillsborough faucets

The plan will provide an additional 2.3 million gallons of water daily to the fast-growing region.

More tap water is expected to be flowing in the future to fast-growing southern Hillsborough County.

On Monday, the directors of Tampa Bay Water, the regional water supplier, approved an idea that had been shelved last summer. It calls for Hillsborough County to inject treated wastewater underground at coastal sites to offset drawing new drinking water from an inland well.

But officials stressed the project was different from Tampa’s controversial PURE proposal, which may, under certain circumstances, introduce highly treated wastewater into the Hillsborough River.

Tampa Bay Water initially considered the proposal as part of its long-term master plan, but scrapped it last year after failing to come to terms with Hillsborough County over cost and contract length. The agreement approved Monday is for 10 years, and the well could be operational within two years.