Introduction | Background | Chloramines & Chlorine
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Water Quality Reports

  
BACKGROUND
 
"Governance Agreements" Create Tampa Bay Water
 
In 1998, Tampa Bay Water became a wholesale water supply utility created to develop, store and supply water for Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties as well as the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa. They, in turn, distribute the water they purchase from Tampa Bay Water to their individual customers. Tampa Bay Water is a wholesale governmental supplier. It is funded through the sale of water and has no taxing authority.
 
In addition to being the region's wholesale water supplier, Tampa Bay Water was also charged with reducing adverse environmental effects caused from water withdrawals in concentrated areas. To accomplish this, a long-term Master Water Plan was developed which calls for diverse new water sources such as surface water, desalinated seawater and desalinated brackish water. A proposed regional reservoir will store surface water when there is an excess. Then, during drier times, this water can be used. In this way, Tampa Bay Water can significantly reduce groundwater pumping at the 11 regional wellfields and still meet the region's drinking water needs.
 
 
System Ownership Model
 
During the governance negotiations, a model of system ownership was agreed on whereby each member government continued to own and operate its existing drinking water treatment plants and distribution systems, while Tampa Bay Water purchased essentially all groundwater supply facilities and wellfield collection and transmission mains. Tampa Bay Water also became responsible for construction of any new water supplies. In other words, the individual city and county members of Tampa Bay Water own and operate all retail water distribution systems. Tampa Bay Water cannot own or operate any retail distribution system. It can only provide water on a wholesale basis to its member governments for distribution.
 
 
How the Partnership Works
 
To better understand this, imagine a water meter (see Figure 1 below). Tampa Bay Water is responsible for collecting, blending and treating water from all supply sources. As a wholesale water supplier, Tampa Bay Water delivers water treated to meet all Safe Drinking Water Act requirements, as well as additional parameters set forth in its own Governance Agreement, to its member governments (left side of the meter). Upon receiving that water, each member government then becomes responsible for final treatment and delivery to its customers (right side of meter).

Each of the six member governments owns and operates its own water distribution system. This makes sense as each system is unique.
 
* Each was built at a different time
* Each is of a different size and layout
* Each has pipes made of different materials
* Each system's customer expectations based on individual experience are different
 
Because of these differences, each member government deals with corrosion control methods such as pipe replacement and water main flushing programs in its own way depending on when and how its system was built. 
 
Member governments also retain ownership and operation of their own systems in order to ensure fair and equitable distribution of cost. If the responsibility for each distribution system were placed on Tampa Bay Water, the cost for operating and maintaining each system would be added to the wholesale water rate and charged to all members. But because each system's needs are different, adding this cost to the wholesale water rate would have unequal benefits for each member. By operating and maintaining its own distribution system, each member pays the same wholesale water rate and each member is responsible for final water disinfection, including the cost of the disinfection, as well as system maintenance.
 
 
Quality Water
 
In 1974, the United States Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act to protect public health by regulating the nation's public drinking water supply. The law was amended in 1986 and again in 1996. The 1996 amendments greatly enhanced the existing law, ensuring the quality of drinking water by protecting it from source to tap. 
 
The Safe Drinking Water Act authorizes the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set national health-based standards for drinking water to protect against both naturally occurring and man-made contaminants that may be found in drinking water. Every year research uncovers new microorganisms, and new technological procedures and tests aid the medical profession in uncovering previously unknown causes of disease. Based on this research in the water field, the EPA issues new water standard rules.
 
It is Tampa Bay Water's responsibility as a wholesale water provider to ensure that the water it delivers meets or is better than not only the regulations as defined by the EPA and the Safe Drinking Water Act, but also the water quality parameters required in its own Governance Agreements. Since 1998, several initiatives have been undertaken to scientifically ensure compliance with all these regulations as well as to provide guidance to both Tampa Bay Water for operation of its wolesale system, and to the member governments for operation of their retail distribution systems.
 
These initiatives include:
 
* Water sampling studies
* Studies for 10 additional water quality parameters
* Corrosion studies
* Establishment of water quality work groups
* A series of workshops on water quality issues presented to Tampa Bay Water's Board
* An approximately $3 million research project to study distribution system response to alternate source waters
* A wholesale blending analysis
* Design and implementation of chloramination systems in the wholesale system
 
 
The Decision to Use Chloramines vs. Free Chlorine 
 
The wholesale water currently supplied by Tampa Bay Water is comprised of 99 percent groundwater and 1 percent surface water. By the end of 2007 the mix will have significantly changed. The area's water supply will be comprised of groundwater, surface water and desalinated seawater, each treated separately and then blended before delivery to the six member governments. 
 
Both groundwater and surface water contain naturally occurring compounds referred to as natural organic matter. Decaying vegetation, for example, is a source of natural organic matter. Water must be treated to inactivate any disease-causing organisms that might make people sick. Disinfection occurs in two stages. The primary stage includes inactivation of any disease-causing organisms in the water at the water treatment plants. In the secondary stage, a small amount of disinfectant is maintained in the pipelines to inactivate any organisms that may recover from primary treatment and to protect against any contaminants that may enter the distribution system through main breaks, leaks or backflow. Both chlorine and chloramine are used as disinfectant residuals.
 
When water containing natural organic matter is treated with chlorine as its primary disinfectant, disinfection by-products occur. These by-products are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act. Scientists at the USEPA believe two primary types of regulated chlorination disinfection by-products - trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) - may cause cancer with prolonged exposure. 
 
In order to ensure ongoing compliance with more stringent health standards, the Tampa Bay Water Board of Directors in February 2000 decided to change its method of treating water. After looking at the advantages and disadvantages of six alternate combinations of disinfectant as well as different types of treatment processes, the decision was made to use chloramines rather than free chlorine to treat the water. By doing so, Tampa Bay Water joins dozens of other Florida utilities that use chloramines to protect against disease-causing organisms. Additionally, the use of chloramines reduces the level of THMs and HAAs found in water.
  
  
Member Governments Prepare to Receive Chloraminated Water
 
Before the conversion to chloramines by Tampa Bay Water, each of its member governments is taking steps to prepare for the change. These steps include:
 
1. Selecting a final distribution system disinfectant.
2. Implementing chemical feed system modifications.
3. Evaluating the impact of the new chemicals on its corrosion control and system flushing practices.
4. Engaging in re-permitting of its points of connection.
5. Participating in the development of a uniform public information approach.
  
  
The Team
 
David Carlson, PE
Black & Veatch Corporation
  
Mr. Carlson has 19 years of experience working primarily in the water treatment field, including numerous water supply, treatment and distribution projects that have involved process design and chemical feed systems. These projects have included the design of new facilities as well as rehabilitation of existing facilities. The treatment plants have ranged in capacity from 3 million gallons per day (mgd) to 75 mgd, using treatment processes such as clarification, softening, ion exchange and reverse osmosis.  He has a bachelor's degree from Iowa State University and a master's degree from the University of Kansas.
 
 
Bruce Long, PE
Black & Veatch Corporation
 
Mr. Long has more than 30 years of water utility engineering experience with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Lehigh University, a master's degree in environmental sciences from Rutgers University and is a Ph.D. candidate in environmental health engineering from the University of Kansas.  He is responsible for assessing and developing design parameters for water treatment technologies for the firm's water treatment plant design projects.  He also designs pilot plant testing facilities and test programs, evaluates the resulting data for upscaling to full-scale treatment processes, and provides assessments of existing treatment facilities as well as Safe Drinking Water Act compliance assessments.
 
 
Alan Hess, PE
Black & Veatch Corporation
 
Mr. Hess has more than 33 years of progressively responsible experience in water utility engineering, including management, design, studies, operation and maintenance at over 85 facilities.  He has a bachelor's degree in civil and sanitary engineering from Pennsylvania State University and a master's degree in civil engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.  His major areas of experience include: operation and maintenance of surface water and groundwater supply and treatment systems; compliance implementation with federal, state and local laws and regulations; organization, staffing, process design and optimization of new and existing water treatment facilities; research, development and implementation of innovative water treatment processes; water utility applications of instrumentation, control systems and computer technology.  He has over 120 presentations and publications.
 
 
Tim Brodeur
Malcolm Pirnie, Incorporated
 
Mr. Brodeur has 29 years of experience in water and wastewater treatment process design, operations and trouble-shooting.  He has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in environmental engineering from the University of Florida.  He has worked extensively with Florida utilities and other large systems throughout the United States in improving plant processes to comply with regulations including disinfection and control of disinfection by-products.  He is currently managing a three-year contract to provide engineering support to the EPA on Safe Drinking Water Act regulations and how utilities will modify treatment plant processes to comply with new regulations and the cost of impact on the same.
 
In the course of his work with utilities and their change in disinfection practices, he has worked with over 15 systems, 10 of which involved changing from free chlorine to chloramines.  Locally this included the city of Tampa in 1982.  He is a Certified Water Treatment plant operator.