Drinking Water Remains Safe to Drink
Starting today, the Tampa Water Department will temporarily change its water disinfection process to chlorine due to a lack of liquid oxygen delivery to the David L. Tippin Water Treatment Facility. Our drinking water will continue to meet all local, state, and federal regulations and remains safe to drink.
The Water Department uses liquid oxygen to create ozone, a powerful disinfectant that is added to the water to destroy bacteria, viruses, and other organisms. However liquid oxygen is currently under very high demand at local hospitals due to the COVID pandemic and deliveries are being diverted to local hospitals. The Water Department will now change its primary disinfection method to chlorine and will continue to use chloramine (a mix of ammonia and chlorine) for secondary disinfection as usual. Potential changes that customers may experience include a slight difference in taste or odor.
At this time, the Water Department has sufficient water to meet customer needs and we do not anticipate implementing water restrictions.