| Water resource management is the most important issue
affecting Hillsborough County as we plan for the 21st Century. Although
water seems to be abundant in Florida, the resources are not always readily
available, and there is often competition between water users and natural
resource protection.
In response to the regional initiative to seek out an adequate supply
for the future and to safeguard the environment as new sources are developed,
the Board of County Commissioners formed
the Hillsborough County Water Resource Team to facilitate communication
between all County departments on water resource issues and provide consensus
recommendations to the County Commission and the Hillsborough County Environmental
Protection Commission.
Tampa Bay Water, as the wholesale water supplier for the Tampa Bay area,
has embarked on an ambitious plan to develop new sources of drinking water
necessary to reduce well field pumping in Northwest Hillsborough and Pasco
counties and to meet future needs for water in the tri-county region that
includes Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties.
Tampa Bay Water is a regional agency created by interlocal agreement.
It has a nine-member board made up of representatives from Hillsborough,
Pasco, and Pinellas counties, along with the cities of New Port Richey,
St. Petersburg and Tampa. The agency serves approximately 1.8-million
residents in the Tampa Bay area.
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