South Hillsborough Pipeline

Blue Route

The blue route exits the Tampa Bay Regional Surface Water Treatment Plant site at Woodberry Road and heads east past Providence Road to Limona Road, where it heads south. At Victoria Street, the route turns east, then turns south at North Moon Avenue. The route then turns east at Robertson Street West and continues south on Parsons Avenue, past Lumsden Road, and continues south on John Moore Road turning west on Ronele Drive and then south at South Kings Avenue. The route goes south on Alafia Ridge Loop, then south on Alafia Ridge Road to south on McMullen Road. At Boyette Road, the route goes east, continuing to Fish Hawk Boulevard to the Lithia Water Treatment Plant.

Construction

There are portions of this route where trenchless construction techniques (such as micro tunneling) are intended to be used to reduce or avoid impacts to environmentally sensitive areas. Final design will include an in-depth evaluation of protected species (flora and fauna) to determine if these are located within the proposed construction limits and if necessary, how to mitigate impacts.

Project Need

Southern Hillsborough County is experiencing unprecedented population growth that is driving the demand for additional drinking water. By 2045, the number of homes in the Boyette area is expected to grow by one-third, the number in Wimauma is expected to more than double, and the number in the Balm area is expected to nearly triple.

To meet the long-term water needs of this area, Tampa Bay Water is building a new South Hillsborough Pipeline that will carry up to 65 million gallons per day (mgd) of additional drinking water to the fast-growing southern Hillsborough service area. This new pipeline will connect Tampa Bay Water’s regional system to a new delivery point in Hillsborough County’s southern service area. It will also provide a backup supply to the County’s Lithia Water Treatment Plant in the event the existing pipeline requires service.

Schedule

• Public input on potential routes: Summer 2022
• Board selection of route: Sept. 19, 2022
• Final design complete: Mid-2024
• Property acquisition complete: Late 2024
• Construction bidding: Late 2024
• Construction complete: Early 2028

Cost

Tampa Bay Water’s consulting engineers will complete the detailed design for the pipeline to determine an estimated cost. Tampa Bay Water has received $4.5 million in co-funding from the Southwest Florida Water Management District for preliminary design and will apply for additional funds in the fiscal year 2023 and beyond.

            

Public Outreach

Tampa Bay Water began public engagement for the South Hillsborough Pipeline in 2019 when the utility began studying possible corridors for the new large-diameter transmission main. Initial public input was collected on evaluation criteria used to rank potential routes.

Survey respondents’ most important evaluation criteria were:

• Public Inconvenience – the top-ranked criterion by nearly 50 percent of respondents
• Environment Impacts/Wetland Mitigation – ranked second by 45 percent of respondents
• Cost – ranked third by 40 percent of respondents

Routes were presented to the community in the summer of 2022 and additional feedback was collected prior to finalizing a route ranking.

From June 14, 2022, through July 8, 2022, Tampa Bay Water conducted an online survey to ask residents about the top three potential pipeline routes.

The project team also held several community meetings with homeowners associations and a live Telephone Town Hall with Hillsborough County residents on July 12, 2022.