C. W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir

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The C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir is a 15 billion gallon reservoir which collects water from the Alafia and Hillsborough Rivers in central Florida. It is named for C.W. Bill Young, the U.S. Congressman from Florida's 10th congressional district. ^[1] Tampa Bay Water, the regional water authority for Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties,^[2] worked for nearly a decade in constructing the reservoir, which was completed in 2005.^[3]

The 1,000-acre (4.0 km²) reservoir cost $146 million to build. It can store 15 billion gallons of water^[4], enough to provide about one quarter of its service area's drinking water for six months. This eases demand on well water from the Floridan Aquifer. The surrounding 5,000-acre (20 km²) tract of land in Hillsborough County is designated as a wildlife preserve to maintain habitat. ^[5] In 2007, drought had reduced the amount of water stored in the reservoir to less than half its capacity. ^[6] This necessitated considering pumping water from the Alafia into the reservoir during the rainy season for use during the dry season. ^[7]