county considers aquifer recharge

Regional water managers are spending a half million dollars researching whether Hillsborough County should inject millions of gallons of treated wastewater into the vast underground lake known as the Floridan Aquifer.

If Hillsborough adopts the practice, called aquifer recharge, it would become the first county in Florida to use the technique.

The World Health Organization says recharging aquifers with wastewater is probably good in theory, however,

If aquifer recharge is haphazard or poorly planned, chemical or microbial contaminants in the water could harm the health of consumers, particularly when reclaimed water is being used. Wastewater may contain numerous contaminants (many of them poorly characterized) that could have health implications if introduced to drinking-water sources.

As great as Tampa Bay Water’s desalination plant has been put together, and with that reservoir all crackin’ apart, I’m not sure we have the means to do a competent job.

4 comments - add to the conversation! → “county considers aquifer recharge”


  1. Gregory Morris

    1 year ago

    Oh good, let’s screw with the environment even more. Reminds me of a story from kindergarten about an old lady who swallowed a fly.


  2. Meredith

    1 year ago

    There once was a county that put sh*t in their aquifer..


  3. Lily Hamilton

    1 year ago

    The Yuck factor is the first thing that comes to mind. However knowing how long it took Tampa Bay Water to get the De-sal plant up and running(?)and the reservoir – oh what about those cracks????And we would want these people to be in charge of pumping poop into our aquifer? I say no>


  4. Norma Killebrew

    1 year ago

    It is amazing to me that Mosaic is strip mining 25 square miles of Hillsborough County without any protests. That mining will reach up to 50 feet deep or more…according to Mosaic spokespeople I have questioned. Thousands of acres around my home on the Little Manatee River has been mined. Small springs have been eliminated. Run off of rain into the river has been compromised. I just spoke before a Phosphate hearing master last week where a little under 6,000 acres were being permitted and only 37 people notified. Talk about harm to the aquifer?


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