Tampa Bay Water program conserves water, saves money

A Tampa area condominium community is flushing less water and less money down the drain thanks to a Tama Bay Water conservation program.

Tudor Cay Condominiums in Town N’ Country installed high-efficiency, low-flow WaterSense toilets and a smart irrigation system through the Tampa Bay Water Wise rebate program. The upgrades are expected to cut water usage in the 337-unit condominium complex by 273,000 gallons a month, decreasing residents’ monthly water bills by 30 to 60 percent decrease in water bills for residents. Tampa Bay Water officials say the projected savings for the complex is $9,000 a month. 

“In the end, we save money and stop the waste of water,” Tudor Cay resident Margarita Delgado says during a March 10th event spotlighting the upgrades.

Resident Barbara Loy, 92, says the program allows her to conserve water “and save money for other things.”

The more efficient toilets installed use 1.28 gallons of water per flush, compared to 3.5 gallons for the community's old toilets. 

Tampa Bay Water, the wholesale drinking water supplier for the region’s utilities, launched the conservation and rebate program in collaboration with six water utilities, Pinellas, Pasco, and Hillsborough counties and the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and New Port Richey, says  Tampa Bay Water Demand Management Program Manager Amelia Brown.

The program focuses on water sustainability at a time when long periods of drought and increased demand from continued population growth put pressure on resources. The Tampa Bay area was under a drought alert from October 2023 to September 1, 2024, leading to watering restrictions. At the same time, Tampa Bay Water’s 2023 long-term water supply plan projects the region’s demand will increase by 50 million gallons per day by 2043. Those numbers show the need for a conservation program like Tampa Bay Water Wise.

“The less water we use daily in our home, the less water we take out of the rivers and the natural environment,” Brown says.

Tampa Bay Water Wise launched in March 2020. Through January 2025, the program had issued rebates for approximately 23,000 water-saving devices, helping to save an estimated 720,000 gallons of water per day. 2024 was the program’s busiest year, with a 300 percent increase in devices installed over 2023 and more rebate dollars issued than the prior four years combined, according to Tampa Bay Water. 

Brown says the program has had the most success with multifamily residential communities. The focus in 2025, is adding hotels, restaurants, schools, local governments, and newly-built homes. The Southwest Florida Water Management District has committed up to approximately $1.43 million to fund the program with less than $627,000 of that spent to date. The rebate and conservation program costs 78 cents per thousand gallons, while the costs to build new water supplies can range from $3 to $11 per thousand gallons, according to Tampa Bay Water.

For more information, go to Tampa Bay Water Wise