TEMPLE TERRACE — While it lacked the energy and tension of last year’s town hall meeting on the same subject — Temple Terrace’s plans to make its water clean enough to meet Environmental Protection Agency standards by 2031 — last week’s sparsely attended meeting moved the debate forward, with two important points rising to the top:
What can the city do immediately to reduce PFAs (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in its water while a new treatment plant is designed and built? And should the city seriously consider buying its water from the city of Tampa or Hillsborough County instead?
Both issues surfaced at the May 19 City Council meeting, but the town hall elevated them in the discussion.
Otherwise, the meeting at Omar K. Lightfoot Senior Center was mostly a repeat of the city council meeting, with consultants from CHA and rate advisers from Stantec walking residents through virtually the same presentation. They reiterated that the preferred long-term fix remains a consolidated Whiteway plant using nanofiltration — a membrane-based process that would soften water and remove PFAS in a single step.
The master plan is expensive, with capital costs in the $72 million to $83 million range and millions more a year in operating costs.
Whether the new facilities can meet EPA standards set in time remains an open question. Resident Daria Navon highlighted just how tight the deadline is for Temple Terrace. While the city has until 2031, EPA compliance is based on a running annual average of quarterly samples, she noted, meaning that the city will have to be meeting the new standards by April 2030.
According to City Manager Carlos Baia, testing of the county’s water between 2013 and 2015 showed no detectable PFAs in Temple Terrace’s water under the older EPA thresholds of 70 parts per trillion (ppt). But last year, another round of testing put the city over the new limit of 4 ppt set by the EPA.
Temple Terrace, Baia noted, is one of 6,700 systems nationwide that now require remediation; roughly 200 million Americans are served by water containing PFAs.
That news set off alarm last year and led to the first water town hall — a highly charged affair where hundreds of residents nervously shared several fears and concerns.
The second town hall this week was more subdued, drawing a crowd of perhaps 50 residents.
At the May 19 city council meeting, the focus was primarily on the long-term fix of overhauling the aging Whiteway plant, converting Sunningdale into a booster plant and using nanofiltration to remove both hard water and PFAS in a single step, as well as a financial plan that would raise water rates to pay for it.
At the town hall, however, the conversation turned to the need for a more immediate, temporary solution, first raised the week before by resident Chris Barquin, who objected to residents having to drink the current water for the next five years.
In response, CHA senior principal engineer Ed Talton went deeper on the option of modular granular activated carbon (GAC) vessels.
Talton explained that while GAC was not an ideal long-term choice because it does not soften the water and has higher long-term operation costs, it could be up and running in three to six months.
The cost, however, would be an additional $3 million per year, or $12 million over four years.
CHA previously pilot-tested the system and had success with it; Talton said it could get the city in compliance ahead of the deadline.
The city could either lease the equipment or buy it outright. Talton said two years of leasing would be the same price as buying the vessels outright. If purchased, they could later be repurposed elsewhere in the system.
Most importantly, it would provide PFAS reduction for residents now, not in 2030 or 2031.
Mayor Andy Ross and city council showed support for the short-term filtration strategy.
They remain less unified, however, on whether connecting to Tampa or Hillsborough County was a better option than a new water plant, another debate that played out at the previous council meeting.
CHA did provide some additional details on the connection option, though with higher costs than previously cited — $30 million to $40 million compared to a slide showing a $40 million to $69 million cost. Some council members still found the figures to be insufficient.
Council member Erik Kravets questioned their credibility, saying, “I am starting to really be confused by and not believe the numbers that are being collected regarding connection other utilities.” Fellow council member Alison Fernandez also requested to see a more detailed cost comparison when it comes to upgrading their own water facilities and buying the water from one of its neighbors, which was echoed by one of the residents.
Talton said he would provide a more detailed financial analysis ahead of the next city council meeting. He cautioned, however, that while the lower upfront capital costs of connecting to Tampa or the county might appear cheaper, Temple Terrace would lose control over its water and setting rates, something that concerned council members James Chambers and Gil Schisler, as well as Ross.
Talton added that Temple Terrace would have to convert its distribution system, which uses free chlorine, to accommodate chloramine treatment — a combination of chlorine and ammonia — used by Tampa and the county.
Kravets and Fernandez pressed for answers on whether the city of Tampa or Hillsborough County are willing and able to supply Temple Terrace with water, and exactly what it would cost.
Several residents who spoke also voiced what they said seems to be a history of deferred infrastructure investment by past councils, leading to some of today’s issues.
“It seems like this is a very reactive solution, and had the PFAs issue not forced the conversation, I would be seriously concerned about whether or not our water treatment plants’ ongoing maintenance needs would have been addressed,” Emily Myers said.
Tara McDoniel-Brown, a pediatric nurse for 30 years, urged the other residents and those watching online to continue to stay engaged.
“Our water should not be something we have to be concerned about,” she said.
If the May 19 city council meeting was about the preferred solution by CHA, the town hall sharpened attention on faster, temporary PFAs reduction and raised scrutiny over whether Temple Terrace should bother operating its own water system or just become a customer of its larger neighbors.