The desalination plant in Tampa, located in the state of Florida (USA), is celebrating its 25th anniversary since its construction. The plant was built in 1998 and subsequently redesigned and renovated by ACCIONA in partnership with American Water.
plant, with a capacity of 108,000 m³/day, it provides at least 10% of the water consumed in the Tampa Bay region and, at the time of its construction, it was the largest in the country. Since its inception and until today, ACCIONA manages its operations with the company in North America US WATER Services Corporation who replaced American Water in September of this year.
Initially, the Tampa Bay region relied on natural resources to meet its drinking water needs. But in the 1990s, due to the increase in population and decrease in rainfall, there was a need to create new supplies of drinking water that could alleviate the stress on the environment and meet the needs of the growing region.
The original project for the desalination plant began in 1998, but at that time the original filtration systems were ineffective and the filters experienced malfunctions on a regular basis. Tampa Bay Water closed the plant in June 2004 and hired ACCIONA and American Water to come up with a new solution.
For three years, ACCIONA and its partners have been working on the reconstruction of the desalination plant so that its operation is fully automated, improving the old designs and correcting and optimizing the process and system.
The original contract included operation of the plant for 18 years, but this contract was recently extended for another five years, until 2029.
Currently, the plant has 22 workers organized seven days a week in different shifts.
