TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Suncoast Pasco News

Double trouble

ADVERTISEMENT

SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: June 20, 2009

Updated: 06/23/2009 12:57 am

On Monday, the governing board of Tampa Bay used one hand to hold its collective nose and plunged the other into the pockets of the people in Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties who consume the water the regional wholesale utility produces. Then the board voted to spend an estimated $125 million over the next five years to repair the many cracks that have developed in the utility's 15-billion-gallon C.W. Bill Young Reservoir.

Tampa Bay Water has already spent $4.1 million patching the cracks and repair estimates often err on the low side. So the reservoir in southeastern Hillsborough County, which was built for around $147 million just a few years ago, could end up costing nearly the same amount again to fix. That's a lot of money for a big hole in the ground.

The reservoir problem follows years of legal and technical battles over Tampa Bay Water's desalination plant in southern Hillsborough. We're all human, so one mistake of this size is, we suppose, something that could happen to anyone. Two in a row, however, is pushing things.

A third, if it ever occurs, would be intolerable.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT