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County Seals Water Deal

Posted on: Wednesday, 21 September 2005, 21:00 CDT

Sep. 21--MANATEE -- Manatee County commissioners soon may have another option for getting more drinking water to keep pace with population growth in the next 35 years.

Commissioners unanimously approved a contract Tuesday to become partners with four other local governments in future development and operation of water supplies.

The proposed contract would allow the partners to buy water from the Peace River/Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority through 2040, but it would not prohibit them from also searching for additional water for their individual communities.

Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte and DeSoto counties and the city of North Port would be contractual partners in sharing costs for building and operating water systems, based on how much water each partner requests and receives.

The partnership would be administered by the Peace River/Manasota authority, which currently operates a reservoir, water storage well and water treatment plant in southwestern DeSoto County.

"I think you are going to see great benefits from having a regional approach to this," said Commissioner Pat Glass, who is Manatee's representative on the authority's governing board. "This has been an inspiring procedure."

"There is a lot of support for this," Chairman Ron Getman said.

Manatee became the third agency to approve the contract, joining DeSoto commissioners and the authority's governing board, said Patrick Lehman, the authority's executive director.

Commissioners from Sarasota and Charlotte counties and the city of North Port were scheduled to vote on the contract proposal at separate meetings next week, Lehman said.

Cooperation between the five partners under the contract is intended to avoid water battles and to share development and operating costs.

"The authority assists hopefully in avoiding future water wars," Douglas Manson, a Tampa attorney and the authority's general counsel, told Manatee commissioners.

Manatee County would not pay for or receive any water in the contract's early years, but Manatee commissioners in June said they were interested in possibly buying an average of 5 million gallons per day starting in January 2014.

Manatee commissioners would keep exclusive control of the county's existing water system, featuring Lake Manatee and its dam and well fields in Duette.

The contract proposal would not require Manatee commissioners to sell water to any partners and would not disrupt Manatee's existing contract to sell water to Sarasota County, according to Manatee and Peace River/Manasota authority officials.

Manatee now sells up to 10 million gallons daily to Sarasota County, but that allotment is slated to drop in three stages by 2020 before ending with no more sales to Sarasota County in 2025. Manatee commissioners and their staff chose in 2003 to wean Sarasota County off Manatee's water to gradually increase Manatee's supply to meet demands from a growing population.

Manson and Zimmerman told Manatee commissioners Tuesday that regional water supply authorities can get more state grants for building water systems and longer water consumption permits than any individual local government. Those are incentives to create cooperative partnerships like the proposed contract, they explained.

The Peace River/Manasota authority now is capable of delivering 18 million gallons of water daily at its facilities in DeSoto County, according to a background report to Manatee commissioners from the county's Utility Operations Department.

Expansion plans are in preliminary design to increase that capacity to 32.7 million gallons daily. The estimated design and construction costs total $119.76 million.

Manatee County will not share in that cost since it won't be receiving water from the expansion, Zimmerman said last week.

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Source: The Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, Fla.)

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