Community Corner

Oxygen Bubbles In Your Tap Water? Forget That, Does It Taste Better?

Tiny bubbles making your tap water appear cloudy? Don't worry, the water is safe to drink and taste and smell have improved, says Tampa Bay Water.

Tampa Bay Water reports that water customers in south-central Hillsborough communities, including Apollo Beach, Brandon, Riverview, Ruskin and Sun City Center, are now receiving higher-quality water thanks to a new hydrogen sulfide removal facility at the Lithia Water Treatment Plant.

"In addition to noticing improved odor and taste, residents may also notice that the tap water occasionally appears cloudy white due to tiny oxygen bubbles," regional utility officials said in a news report on the water produced by the new facility at the plant, at 5402 Lithia Pinecrest Road.

"This may be more apparent until the new process is further refined," the report continues. "The water is safe to drink. The bubbles are created by the new ozone process that is removing hydrogen sulfide and its characteristic rotten egg smell from groundwater supplied to the Lithia plant. The oxygen bubbles should dissipate after the water sits for a few minutes."

Find out what's happening in Bloomingdale-Riverviewwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

That's should be welcome news to the football players at nearby Newsome High Schoool, who, according to an article written by Kevin Brady and published by the Tampa Bay Current, complained about the smell coming from Tampa Bay Water’s plant during a public hearing at the school in 2010.

“They were really happy to hear there would no longer be a smell coming from the plant,” Brandon Moore, Tampa Bay Water’s public communications manager, reportedly told the Current. "Residents also welcomed the changes. “We had a lot of positive feedback about the new plant. It’s a higher quality of water residents are now receiving.”

Find out what's happening in Bloomingdale-Riverviewwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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What's your view? How good is the water? Do you welcome the changes? Let us know in the comment box below.

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From Tampa Bay Water's Report On "Improved Drinking Water"

  • Ozone is a safe, affordable and efficient method used to disinfect water and improve taste and odor in treatment plants all over the world.
  • With the start-up and testing of the new ozone facility and plant improvements, Hillsborough County’s 20-year-old hydrogen sulfide removal process is being retired, and with it, the occasional sulfur smell that emanated from the old facility.
  • Tampa Bay Water constructed the new hydrogen sulfide removal facility. The construction and property acquisition cost was approximately $34.7 million and was funded through construction bonds and Tampa Bay Water’s wholesale water rate.
  • Hillsborough County Public Utilities made several modifications at the Lithia plant in order to integrate the new ozone treatment process into daily operations. These included reconfiguring chemical feed systems and related piping, upgrading chemical analyzers and controls, and constructing a new segment for the pipeline which brings water into the plant from Tampa Bay Water’s regional system.

For more information about the project, visit Tampa Bay Water online.

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About Tampa Bay Water 

  • Hillsborough County is a member of Tampa Bay Water. The Hillsborough County Public Utilities Department provides an average of 50 million gallons of drinking water a day to 535,000 people in unincorporated Hillsborough County, and treats about 36 million gallons of wastewater a day.
  • Tampa Bay Water supplies wholesale drinking water to Hillsborough County, Pasco County, Pinellas County, New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa. We supply water to more than 2.3 million people through the governments we serve.
  • We are a non-profit, special district of the State of Florida created to plan, develop and deliver a high-quality drinking water supply, and we work to protect our water supply sources.







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