TAMPA, Fla. — An environmental battle that’s been going on for years in Tampa over what to do with millions of gallons of highly treated wastewater appears to be far from over.

Mayor Jane Castor’s plan to resurrect funding for a fresh round of studies and public hearings was unanimously rejected Thursday by the city council.

The project, many of its critics called “Toilet to Tap” years ago, has been updated to a new plan called “PURE” which stands for Purify Resources for the Environment. It proposes to take the treated wastewater, inject it into the aquifer, then pump it into the reservoir on the Hillsborough River.

Tampa currently pumps 50,000,000 gallons of treated wastewater into the bay every day, but by a state law that must end by 2032. Project PURE is a proposed alternative, but some residents speaking at the city council meeting weren’t buying it.

“Citizens’ concerns about drinking reclaimed water are still dismissed as the ‘Ick factor,’” said Sierra Club of Tampa Bay member Nancy Stephens, “People understand what drinking water that comes from toilets and industrial waste means and have legitimate concerns. Are contaminants in the water? You’ve heard some of them ask are the levels safe? Are the levels of these contaminants safe? How is the city going to guarantee that this will be safe?”  

“We don’t disagree with any of the things that the environmental stakeholders said today,” said Tampa Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Whit Remer. “We need the resources to answer those questions to make sure we have the right filtrations systems in place and ultimately to put the city in a position where we’re not jeopardizing our water use permit or not running up against a state law and ultimately are providing a great place for our citizens to recreate on the river and in our bays.”