Tampa’s PURE Studies Have Ended
What was PURE?
Purify Usable Resources for the Environment (PURE) was a proposed wastewater reuse process that considered options for using highly treated wastewater from Tampa’s sewage system for drinking water and/or to replenish the aquifer and Hillsborough River. When first proposed several years ago, many residents nicknamed a similar project “Toilet to Tap.”
Currently, some treated wastewater (“reclaimed water”) is used for outdoor irrigation, available in limited parts of Tampa. The City’s remaining treated wastewater (about 50 million gallons per day) is released to Seddon Channel across from the southern tip of Davis Islands, where it mixes with other water as part of Tampa Bay, an estuary that contains a mixture of fresh and salt water.
The Tampa Bay Group worked diligently to track the PURE proposal and spoke out strongly against its being approved as approved. The Conservation Committee spearheaded this effort and believe that we were instrumental in the eventual Tampa decision to not further PURE.
PURE proposes further treatment, but the water may still be contaminated and unsafe to drink.
Tampa PURE Issues and Concerns
If you have further concerns, please contact: Nancy.Stevens@florida.sierraclub.org
Video by Todd Randolph