Tampa Bay Water has taken another step toward meeting the region’s needs for clean drinking water by awarding a $158.4-million contract to Veolia Water North America-South to design, build and operate a 48-million-gallon-per-day expansion of an existing water-treatment plant in Brandon, Fla. The Houston-based firm had recently completed a DBO contract to build the existing 72-mgd Regional Surface Water Treatment Plant and will work with design engineer CDM of Cambridge, Mass., to expand the current facility to a total capacity of 120 mgd. According to Tampa Bay Water, that would make the Brandon plant the largest water-treatment plant in the nation to be delivered under a DBO contract. The expansion is scheduled to be finished by 2010.