The David L. Tippin Water Treatment Facility in Tampa, Florida. Credit: Photo via City of Tampa

While other counties and municipalities in the Tampa Bay area have plans to deactivate water service ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall on Wednesday, officials in Tampa are reassuring residents that they have no plans to preemptively shutdown water.

The City of Tampa issued a media advisory Tuesday morning saying that staff is on hand at the David L. Tippin Water Treatment Facility to ensure the delivery of “clean, high-quality drinking water to our service area.”

“The water treatment plant also has multiple backup systems in place that will allow it to continue producing drinking water throughout the storm,” the city added.

Still, officials have encouraged residents to have water on hand in the event of a service disruption.

“Residents can prepare their own water supplies by storing tap water in clean, food-grade containers or reusable bottles. Each family should store at least one gallon of water per person, per day, for a minimum of three days,” the advisory added.

Water service in other parts of the Bay area is another story, however, according to WTSP, which has a running list of counties expected to shut down water service.

For instance, Manatee County had plans to shut down potable water and sanctuary sewer service to island cities like Anna Maria Island, Holmes Beach, Bradenton Beach and the Town of Longboat Key today. Sarasota also started shutting down water service to Siesta and Casey keys.

St. Pete Beach also started to deactivate water lines today, according to the station, which added that City of St. Petersburg officials are still deciding on whether or not to shut off services at their Northeast and Southwest facilities.

And folks, for heaven’s sake, please stop sharing bad information or unverified memes and screenshots.

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This article appears in Oct 3-9, 2024.