Apollo Beach and Ruskin water customers will pay higher bills starting Oct. 1 as Hillsborough County pushes forward with $1.6 billion in South County water infrastructure. The rate increase arrives days after a federal appeals court ruled the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee a right to clean drinking water.

The ruling does not bind Florida courts. But it narrows one legal path residents could pursue if a government-run water system harmed them, a question that matters in South Hillsborough, where ratepayers are financing some of the largest water projects in county history.

5th Circuit rejects Jackson residents' water claims

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 10-5 on Sept. 4 in Sterling v. City of Jackson to dismiss federal civil rights claims brought by Jackson, Mississippi, residents. The plaintiffs alleged the city knowingly let them drink lead-contaminated water and gave false assurances it was safe.

Circuit Judge Kurt Engelhardt, writing for the majority, found that constitutional protections for bodily integrity have generally involved direct government interference. Forced medical procedures and physical assault qualify. Mismanagement of a municipal water system does not.

"The Constitution does not provide redress for every governmental wrongdoing," Engelhardt wrote in the majority opinion.

The majority also found no constitutional right to truthful information from government officials during a public health crisis, USA Today reported.

Five judges dissented. Circuit Judge Catharina Haynes said the Jackson residents' allegations should have been allowed to proceed to discovery. She compared the case to the Flint, Michigan, water crisis, according to Bloomberg Law.

The ruling binds federal courts in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. It deepens a split with the 6th Circuit, which allowed Flint residents to pursue similar constitutional claims. Florida sits in the 11th Circuit, which has not issued a comparable ruling.

The decision does not remove federal or state drinking water regulations. The Safe Drinking Water Act still governs public water systems nationwide. Several states, including California and Virginia, have written safe-water protections into their own constitutions or laws.

County advances $2.44 billion in water projects

Hillsborough County's One Water Program covers drinking water, wastewater and reclaimed water across Apollo Beach, Gibsonton, Riverview, Ruskin, Sun City Center and Wimauma.

County officials broke ground April 24 on the program's centerpiece: a 200-acre advanced wastewater treatment plant near the Southeast County Landfill in Lithia. The facility will process up to 24 million gallons per day by 2030, according to the Osprey Observer. Phase one is expected in 2028.

"I want them to know that this is the county using their tax dollars, investing it where we should be investing it," Hillsborough County Commissioner Christine Miller said at the April 24 groundbreaking, as Fox 13 reported.

Separately, the $505.7 million South Hillsborough Pipeline will carry up to 65 million gallons of drinking water per day from Tampa Bay Water's treatment plant in Brandon to a connection point near Balm. The 26-mile pipeline began construction in fall 2025 and is expected to be in service by late 2028, Tampa Bay 28 reported.

Water bills rise for South County customers

The Board of County Commissioners approved a 5% increase plus a 2.91% price index adjustment for fiscal year 2027, according to the county's rate schedule. The monthly base charge rises from $13.58 to $14.67.

The county's water capital improvement program now totals about $2.44 billion across 58 projects. The One Water Program alone accounts for $1.454 billion of that, county records show.

Management and Budget Director Kevin Brickey attributed much of a $2.1 billion increase in the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget to the One Water Program and federal disaster recovery funding, Florida Politics reported.

No Hillsborough County official has commented publicly on what the 5th Circuit ruling means for local water customers. Commissioners are scheduled to adopt the final $14.1 billion county budget Sept. 24, and residents can weigh in at that hearing.