Tampa to implement new, money-saving method to treat drinking water

TAMPA, Fla. - The Sligh Avenue water treatment plant in Tampa may not be on anyone’s must-see list, but Larry Elliott of Corollo Engineers says it soon will be. 

"I expect you’re going to have visitors from all over the world, certainly all over Florida, coming here," he says. 

They’ll come to see the new way Tampa will treat water from the Hillsborough River, the main source of the city’s drinking water. Officials say the new technology will save money in the process.

"The net savings we’re estimating right now is to be somewhere around $4 million a year," says Chuck Weber, Tampa’s water director.

For months, Tampa has been running a pilot test of the technology called SIX, which stands for suspended ion exchange. It uses small beads in suspended water to remove dissolved organic carbon which occurs naturally in the Hillsborough River. 

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It’s worked better than expected. One of the last pieces of the technology puzzle came from the Netherlands, where they perfected a resin that removes organics from the water.

Tampa’s new SIX water plant is scheduled to be operational in 2026 or 2027 and will treat 149 million gallons of water a day. The city appropriated $100 million for the project. 

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"It’s been really exciting," says Melanie Pickett. "This is a big project, brand-new technology and I’ve learned a lot, putting together the pilot program."

The 32-year-old Corollo Engineers employee studied decades of how the Hillsborough River has supplied the city’s drinking water while getting her Ph.D. at the University of South Florida. 

Now she will help make a major change in how it’s done, with new technology to remove organic carbon. 

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"And the water may taste a little bit better," says Weber. 

Tampa’s new taste for technology is soon to change the way its water has been treated for decades. Officials say the new plant will not cause water rates to rise.