Clearwater opens second R-O water plant

CLEARWATER — The city of Clearwater will celebrate the grand opening of its second reverse-osmosis water treatment plant Thursday morning.

Officials announced the celebration last week, which will take place at 9 a.m. at 21133 U.S. 19.

The Clearwater treatment plant already went online in May and treats brackish water using state-of-the-art technology to produce up to 6.25 million gallons per day of additional drinking water for Clearwater customers. Reverse osmosis is a process that purifies water by removing dissolved particles, minerals and ions.

The plant is the latest such water treatment operation to go online and expects to be followed shortly by another in Tarpon Springs.

Dunedin has had an R-O water plant in operation since 1992. Oldsmar has also been supplementing its drinking water supply with an R-O plant of its own since 2013.

These plants turn potable water beneath Pinellas County that was rendered brackish by saltwater intrusion decades ago.

Project managers in Tarpon Springs updated city officials last month that their own $45 million facility north of the Anclote River will begin producing its first water by the end of June.