Tampa Water Department buying water due to lack of rain, growing population

TAMPA, Fla. - The city’s water department started buying water from the regional water authority, called Tampa Bay Water, because consumption is up and there’s been a lack of rain, according to the Tampa Water Department.

"We’ve increased about 5%, which is about four million gallons a day more than we were this time last year," said John Ring, the city of Tampa’s water production manager.  "We had a warm winter last winter, and typically when it’s nice and cold, lawns go dormant, people back off on their irrigation, we think we saw some more irrigation then, then we went into our drought, and now we’ve had a very unusual rainy season, and we have not been seeing those rains."

Water consumption is up, but there's been a lack of rain.

Ring says the need for extra water in the city is because of a few things: irrigation, drought and the water department is also factoring in our population growth.

"What percentage, we don’t know yet, we’re looking to try to understand how much of this possibly could be the extra irrigation, how much of this is population increase, but that is certainly playing a role in it," said Ring.

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Within the next few months, Tampa residents will be seeing an extra charge on their water bills.

It’s not a very big increase, though. 

Tampa residents will see an extra charge in coming months.

It’s looking like just about one dollar more per household, but the water department says it depends how much more water is needed, and for how long. 

The message from the water department now, is to conserve water however you can.

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"Chase those leaks down, find those leaks, repair those leaks, settings on your irrigation," said Ring.

Tampa residents won’t be seeing the additional water charge on their bill until November or December because it takes time, and the water department does anticipate the extra cost to increase which is why they’re urging everyone to conserve.