Both previous attempts at seawater desalination in the United States were eventually abandoned for both economic and environmental reasons. Seawater desalination has never been done inside an estuary. The discharge site is already environmentally stressed and below standards of the Clean Water Act. 27 first-magnitude springs having a combined flow rate of more than 6 billion gallons per day. This is from The Springs of Florida, pages 17-18, by Doug Stamm.
Desalination is an experiment that is neither necessary nor appropriate.
Some weeks ago I read in a newspaper that in excess of 40 percent of all potable water was consumed for irrigation. Some days later I also read that a vote had been taken in a particular jurisdiction to install pipes to furnish recycled water to this area for irrigation purposes. To nobody's surprise, the voters turned thumbs down to this proposal. I really don't know the answer, but I'll bet it had something to do with the voters footing the bill for this project. The elected officials of the Tampa Bay area need a unified, viable effort and a rejection of the water wars and parochial attitudes that have prevailed from time immemorial.