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County officials detail $1.6 billion '1 Water' program; pipeline construction for segment B to begin September 2025
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Summary
Hillsborough County Water Resources officials told commissioners during the June 11 budget workshop that the '1 Water' capital program—valued at about $1.6 billion—will expand drinking-water and wastewater capacity, with pipeline construction for segment B starting September 2025 and the new water plant targeted to be online by 2029.
George Cassidy, Assistant County Administrator for Public Utilities, and Lisa Ray, Director of Water Resources, briefed the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners on June 11 about the county's Water Resources capital program and the county's largest-ever single water project, the "1 Water" campus.
"We never lost drinking water supply to our customers," George Cassidy said when summarizing the utility's response to recent storms and the resilience of the system during outages.
Lisa Ray described the system footprint and the project's schedule and funding priorities. The county serves nearly 800,000 people in the unincorporated area, operates across roughly 300 square miles and—she said—has added 52 miles of new water pipe, 64 miles of new wastewater pipe, 25 new lift stations and about 805 new manholes in the last 18 months.
Ray said the county intends to advertise for a construction manager at‑risk (CMAR) in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2025 and expects the new water plant to be operational by 2029. She said county staff received a construction permit from the Environmental Protection Commission for pipeline segment B and that construction for that segment will begin in September 2025.
"Overall, our 1 water program has a value of about $1,600,000,000," Ray said, characterizing the program as a long‑term investment to provide capacity for a growing population.
Why it matters: staff presented modeling showing that, without additional capacity, two of three South County wastewater plants would exceed permitted capacity as growth continues. The 1 Water campus is intended to transfer flow and provide capacity to serve new residents and limit overcapacity risks at existing plants; Ray also flagged continued challenges at the Falkenberg plant and potential impacts to the Bellrico plant from future urban service area expansions along I‑4.
Ray said the department adjusted its five‑year capital improvement program (CIP) to absorb inflationary impacts and higher capacity needs, identifying roughly $780 million in additional need across five years on top of an existing five‑year CIP of about $2.6 billion. To accommodate the 1 Water priorities, staff deferred four projects and returned to the county's rate consultant; staff said the current rate structure approved by the board will cover the identified needs based on the rate sufficiency analysis presented (the transcript contained a typographical date for the rate schedule that could not be verified in the workshop record).
Funding sources Ray cited include utility rates, participation in the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) activities (countywide coordination), and prospective adjustments to impact fees.
Ray and Cassidy also described interim measures to address near‑term water pressure challenges in South County. Staff distributed community outreach materials encouraging irrigation schedule changes and plan to install a temporary booster pump station in the Balm Grove East area to improve pressure; Ray said the temporary installation has an initial cost estimate of about $600,000 that includes construction and pipeline work and that monthly rental costs were not specified.
On reclaimed water, Cassidy and Ray said the utility produces reclaimed water and the new plant will too; county ordinance currently does not require developers to install purple pipe (reclaimed water distribution) though staff said they are discussing targeted requirements in some corridors where purple pipe can be connected efficiently.
Board members asked technical questions about interim pumps, fire‑flow design and reclaimed water. Commissioner Bowles asked about augmenting pressure before the plant comes online; Ray described outreach, a temporary booster pump and modeling for additional relocations of boosters as needed. Commissioner Wolff referenced estimates that irrigation consumes a substantial portion of potable water and noted the value of conservation outreach.
Ending: Ray reiterated the long timeline and scale of the program and said staff will continue to seek grants and federal disaster‑recovery funding while moving the project through procurement and construction milestones.
