Tampa Bay Water loses case

CLEARWATER — A federal jury ruled against Tampa Bay Water in its $73 million lawsuit against HDR Engineering Inc., according to a news release from the utility.

The Clearwater-headquartered utility filed the lawsuit more than three years ago seeking damages from HDR and two builders responsible for the construction of its 15 billion-gallon reservoir. Construction of the reservoir was completed in 2005, but cracks began to appear the following year. In 2009, engineers contracted by the utility declared the reservoir must undergo a five-year repair to fix the damages.

In the lawsuit, HDR argued that the reservoir's cracking was the result of faulty construction. A federal jury agreed with HDR that the construction, not the design, was responsible for the problem. Previously, Tampa Bay Water, which had $165 million in annual revenues in 2011, won $6 million from project manager CDG and $750,000 from Barnard Construction, the reservoir's contractor.

The nearly 2.5 million ratepayers serviced by Tampa Bay Water will shoulder the remainder of the $122 million repair costs not covered by state and federal grants.

Tampa Bay Water General Manager Gerald Seebler says the utility's board will meet next week to discuss appealing the ruling.