Sinkhole Worries Nix Reservoir Expansion Plan

By Craig Pittman

TAMPA -- Tampa Bay Water officials are ditching their plan to expand Florida's largest reservoir by 3 billion gallons, saving the ratepayers money, but once again stumbling on a major project.

Instead of spending $163 million to expand the reservoir, the utility will pay closer to $121 million to fix the repeated cracking problem in the existing 15.5 billion-gallon facility.

Utility officials gave two reasons: the weight and the winter.

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