It is very exciting and uplifting for residents living south of Gandy Boulevard in the Sun Bay South community to realize that city planners have turned their attentions to improving and bringing up to date the infrastructure of this vital, historically rich portion of our grand city. Families could then take evening walks and kids could ride their scooters out of the flow of traffic. I agree that this area is in need of additional freshwater supplies, but I do not believe desalination is the solution, and desalination in Tampa Bay may be an environmental disaster. This is only the first of several desalination plants planned for Tampa Bay. Each desalination plant would only produce about one-tenth of the area's current water consumption via Tampa Bay Water.
Desalinated water is the most expensive water in the world.
It is not cost effective. Desalination on this scale is not and has never been environmentally friendly. 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.