Desalination builder declares bankruptcy

November 2003

U.S. Water News Online

TAMPA, Fla. -- The builder of a desalination plant expected to be the country's largest declared bankruptcy after the facility had problems turning water from salty Tampa Bay into drinking water.

Covanta Tampa Construction said difficulties with two subcontractors and clogged filters have delayed operations.

The bankruptcy filing prevented Tampa Bay Water, a utility serving 2 million customers, from finding someone else to finish the $110 million job. The utility had threatened to fire Covanta in two weeks.

"They have chosen a path of delay rather than a path of performance," said Don Conn, a lawyer for Tampa Bay Water.

Covanta officials said the filing guaranteed they will finish the plant with no increase in cost.

The plant was supposed to have been in working order by last spring, according to the utility, producing 25 million gallons of drinking water every day -- the largest output from a single plant in the United States.

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