Tampa Bay Water postpones water plan vote until 2020

Amid vocal opposition to the Tampa Augmentation Project, the water agency again decides not to decide -- this time until a feasibility study is complete.

CLEARWATER -— Facing strong public opposition, the region’s water supply authority again postponed voting on a city of Tampa plan to produce 50 million gallons a day of drinking water by pumping treated wastewater into the Floridan aquifer.

Tampa Bay Water board members voted unanimously to put off making a decision for more than a year, the latest in a string of delays for the $350 million project dubbed “toilet to tap” by critics.

Water board members had already postponed a scheduled October vote until February. In February they postponed it until Monday. On Monday, they agreed there were still too many unanswered questions to make a final decision and postponed a vote once more, this time until June 2020.