Tampa voters may have final word on 'toilet-to-tap' water proposal

TAMPA — Holding up a beaker of brown liquid drawn from the Hillsborough River, City Council member Charlie Miranda made his case Thursday for letting voters decide what to do with the 55 million gallons of treated sewer water the city dumps into Tampa Bay every day.

"This is your river water. Take a good look at it," he said. "This is what you're drinking now."

It's got bird droppings, feces, transmission fluid, old cars, sunken ships and maybe even dead bodies in it, he said. But it's treated to the point where it's safe to drink.

The same thing can be done with sewer water, he said.

Miranda wants voters to consider the issue in the March 2011 election.

Treating wastewater and sending it to taps would supplement the strapped water supply and cost half as much as a $340 million plan proposed by Mayor Pam Iorio to use reclaimed water for lawn irrigation in just parts of Tampa, he said.

"I am amazed at the opposition that I'm getting," Miranda said. "What is it that the administration doesn't like?"

Steve Daignault, Iorio's chief of public works and utilities, said it would take a long time and cost a lot of money to educate people so they could cast an informed vote.

Shortly after the meeting, Iorio issued a memo affirming Daignault's statement.

She wrote that she believes it is possible to treat reclaimed water to drinking water standards.

But she urged "caution" before putting the question on a ballot without detailed information about the costs.

"People could vote on the concept, and that may be helpful," she wrote. "But I suspect they will want a fuller picture of what a 'yes' vote might entail."

During the workshop, Council Chairman Tom Scott said there's plenty of time to inform voters between now and spring 2011.

Other cities have been returning wastewater to the drinking supply for years, and Tampa should consider it, he said.

"We never want to be on the cutting edge," he said. "We never want to think outside the box. We never want to take a risk."

Council members John Dingfelder and Linda Saul-Sena resisted the idea.

They countered that some studies show sewer water can never be treated to entirely remove all pharmaceutical residue and toxins.

"We can't take risks with the health issues," Dingfelder said.

Several years ago, he noted, concern about a health effect on wildlife persuaded Iorio to back off a plan to put reclaimed water into the lower Hillsborough River so that more drinking water could be withdrawn from the upper river.

"I have been reading articles from all over the world about the health risks of doing this," Dingfelder said. "You can sugarcoat it all you want, but it is toilet-to-tap."

Saul-Sena said such a complicated issue is better-decided by elected officials than the public.

All of the speakers during the comment period Thursday supported the idea of at least putting the question to voters.

Federal and state regulators would soon start fining the city for discharging treated wastewater into the bay, Janet Dougherty, a former board member of the Southwest Florida Water Management District, told the council.

The city needs to find the best way to put the water to good use before that happens, she said.

"As a member of the public, I'd be happy to vote on this. I'd love to vote on this," she said. "This is a No. 1 priority."

Another workshop on the topic is scheduled for 9 a.m. Feb. 25 at City Hall, 315 E Kennedy Blvd.

Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3401.