The board of Tampa Bay Water has approved staff recommendations for an estimated $125-million repair program for the agency’s four-year-old, 15.5-billion-gallon C.W. “Bill” Young Regional Reservoir. The facility, which cost roughly $140 million to construct originally, has been experiencing significant cracking since late 2006. At the same time, the authority is moving ahead with a lawsuit against the three lead members of the project’s design and construction team: HDR of Omaha, Neb., the designer; Barnard Construction Co. of Bozeman, Mont., the contractor; and construction manager Construction Dynamics Group of Columbia, Md.
In late 2006, the agency discovered significant cracking along the reservoir’s interior lining. Tampa Bay Water reports that cracking has been found along roughly 40% of the reservoir’s interior lining. The problem areas were located in the soil-cement lining of the interior walls, which had been designed as an alternative erosion-control component of the reservoir.