By Tamas Mondovics
Welcomed by nearly 30 area residents, the Hillsborough County Public Utilities Department held a public information meeting last month to discuss a proposed project to construct an above ground storage tank and pump station to provide reclaimed water for the Waterset community in the Apollo Beach area.
“The purpose of this meeting was to present the proposed project to the public early in the planning and design stages,” said Andrea Roshaven with County Communications and Digital Media Services.
The meeting was held at The Landing in Waterset at 7012 Sail View Ln. in Apollo Beach.
The $ 6.5 million project, funded through the Public Utilities Department’s Capital Improvement Program, would include a six million gallon above ground storage tank, and an enclosed pump station to distribute reclaimed water to Waterset residents through the reclaimed water infrastructure that Newland Communities Inc. is developing.
According to officials, space for a second tank to be built in the future is also on the table.
The proposed tank and pump station is planned to be constructed on a 5-acre site located next to Interstate 75 within the Waterset development and will connect to reclaimed water infrastructure installed by Newland.
Officials said that the pump station is needed to provide the necessary flow and pressure to meet the expected landscape irrigation demand in the community.
“The project poses no unique impact for the community, because there are no homes currently being built near the new proposed station,” Roshaven said.
Project design is expected to be completed by spring of 2015, as the year-long construction is expected to start as early as mid-summer of next year.
Public Utilities Department and Newland Communities, Inc. are now considering residents comments and will refine the project or decide if the project should not move forward at the proposed location.
Newland Communities opened the new 1,300-acre Waterset community in Apollo Beach in 2012 with about three-dozen homes sold.
Waterset’s initial phase includes Ashton Woods Homes, Cardel Homes, David Weekley Homes, and Homes by WestBay, all of which have built homes in communities developed by Newland in the Tampa market and around the country.
For more information about the project, visit www.HillsboroughCounty.org/ CountyProjects by using the Water & Sewer Projects link.
