Water begins to flow into giant man-made lagoon

WESLEY CHAPEL (FOX 13) - Waterfront property will soon be coming to thousands of people living in Pasco County. But first, they've got to bring in the water.

The seven-acre man-made lagoon will be the focal point of the Epperson housing development in Wesley Chapel.  This week, the water started to flow, and they’ve already sold 50 of what will be 1,000 homes surrounding the lagoon.

"It's a game-changer in this community,” offered Jen Austin of Metro Development Group.  “We are already exceeding every builder's expectations."

A company out of Miami builds the lagoons, mainly in Dubai and South Africa.  Waterfalls, paddle boarding, a beach area -- they've got it all.   

So what’s the cost to the homeowner? A community lagoon fee, which is being set at $25 a month. 

But how do they keep the pool from becoming a cesspool? That's the multi-million-dollar secret.

"They have figured out how to keep something like this clean,” Austin said. “They keep it clean with their own filtration system and they monitor it remotely."

The millions of gallons of water for this project is bought from the Pasco County government and it's filled slowly, so drained aquifers don’t cause sinkholes and normal water service isn't affected.

"We could do a million gallons a day,” project manager Mark Schwartz said. “We are only doing 100,000 so we are doing it on the slow side."

At that rate, it should be full by February or March of 2018.  And they’ve got a big named planned to help make a big splash at Epperson’s grand opening.

"We've got Michael Phelps! Who else do you need?” Austin laughed.