Power Plant Manatees Location: Tampa, Florida Day 14 by Karen Brown

I will tell you why. Like everyone else who lives in Florida, manatees love warm weather. When the water temperature drops below 68 degrees F and air temperature drops below 50 degrees F, the manatees gather near warm water refuges such as natural springs or warm water discharges from power plants and other industries.

The Tampa Electric Company is a power plant. It makes electricity from coal. In the process, water is heated so hot it makes steam. To cool the steam back down, the Tampa Electric Company pumps in cool sea water from the bay. After the sea water cools the steam back into water, the sea water has warmed up and is returned to the bay.

And the manatees like to swim in this warmed up water! This is the warm water discharge from the power plant. The warm water goes into a canal right next to the power plant. In 1986 the state of Florida declared this canal to be an official manatee sanctuary. It is a winter haven for migrating manatees.

Boats and people are not allowed in this canal. The manatees are safe here. They can't be hit by boats or disturbed by people in any way. They can rest in the canal and stay warm. They cannot eat here because there aren't any plants for them at the bottom of the canal. But the power company provides two water hoses for them. The hoses are hung out over the canal and the manatees will drink out of the hoses. (Note: Because it is now illegal to provide manatees fresh water the water hoses were removed in 2005,)

Patricia Simms, the Coordinator of the Manatee Viewing Center for Tampa Electric Company, said that sometimes when there are lots of manatees in the canal they will all line up and take turns taking a drink. And if one takes a little bit too long, the others will give him a push to hurry him up.

Patricia Simms gave us a tour of the Manatee Viewing Center. We walked out onto the observation platform. It stretches over the water near the water hoses. We saw a mother and her calf resting near one of the hoses. Since it is a sanctuary we were not allowed to go in the water to see them. But we could see them from above.

Ms. Simms also took us for a walk on a long boardwalk that she calls a tidal flat walkway. This walkway goes way out over the canal. We didn't see any more manatees but we saw lots of other animals. We could see big fish called tarpon swimming nearby. We also saw some catfish. We saw a white pelican a long way away. We saw a bird called a tri-color heron. We saw lots of tiny fiddler crabs. We saw the tracks of a raccoon. Ms. Simms said the raccoons come to eat oysters and whatever else they can find at the water's edge.

There are plants at the water's edge, too. We saw a lot of mangroves and sea grapes.

Ms. Simms also took us to the Environmental Education Building. Here they have displays on the habitat of the manatee and how the power plant's warm water discharge canal is important to the manatee's survival.

The Tampa Electric Electric Company is a very good place for people to visit to learn about manatees. People want electricity and manatees want warm water. The Tampa Electric Company shows us ways that people and nature can live together. Here industry provides for people's needs and helps nature, too! The workers there are very concerned about helping the manatees and they are glad to provide a safe, warm place for manatees to visit.

Manatee Fun Fact: Manatees usually swim around 5 miles per hour, but if they are in a big hurry, they can swim up to 17 miles per hour, but only for a short distance.

The manatee observation platform at TECO. School students and families can come here to see the manatees.

The water hose squirts fresh water into the canal for the manatees to drink. (Look carefully for the two gray blobs to the right of the hose. Those blobs are two manatees!)

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