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August 7, 2024
CLEARWATER — Tropical Storm Debby brought much-needed rain to the region allowing Tampa Bay Water to add about 200 million gallons of water per day (mgd) to the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir for storage.
Rain from Debby increased river flows enough to send water to both the Tampa Bay Regional Surface Water Treatment Plant and regional reservoir. The surface water treatment plant is producing 80 mgd of drinking water, and reservoir storage increased to nearly 5 billion gallons as of Wednesday, 32% of its 15.5-billion-gallon capacity.
Summer rains began in mid-June, but it had not rained enough in the right places — the top of the Hillsborough and Alafia river basins — until the rains from Debby.
“The entire region got rain from this tropical system including the top of our river basins,” said Warren Hogg, chief science officer for Tampa Bay Water. “Because of this, we’re now putting the maximum amount of water we can into the reservoir.”
Demands are also down. When it rains, water demands typically decrease due to less outdoor watering, which provides more relief on the drinking water supply system. Residents don’t need to water their lawns this week and should continue to skip water cycles when it rains, or rain is in the forecast. If watering is needed, make sure it’s only on your designated day, which you can find at MyWaterDay.org.
The Tampa Bay region remains in a Stage 1 Drought Alert due to a rainfall deficit as of August 1. The rainfall deficit must be eliminated, and the river flow deficit must be less than five mgd to exit the Stage 1 status. The water shortage stages are triggered in a stepwise fashion from month to month and Tampa Bay Water cannot exit a stage mid-month.
Regional Water Facts as of August 1, 2024:
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Regional rainfall was at a 3.0-inch deficit for the past 12 months.
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Rainfall in July averaged about 10.7 inches, 2.72 inches above normal.
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