New pipeline will cost $1M
City decides to replace leaking water line
By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 07/15/08
St. Augustine City Commissioners voted Monday to spend roughly $1 million to install a new Waste Water Treatment pipeline to stop it from leaking into the marshlands.
The 1,600-foot pipeline has been leaking treated water for at least four years in the marsh behind the Waste Water Treatment Plant, located in Lincolnville off Riberia Street.
Judith Seraphin, a city commission candidate and Lincolnville resident, said that in the last year she worried there were problems at the plant, but city staff assured her nothing was wrong. She believes E. coli has leaked from the pipe into the Intracoastal Waterway.
"It bothers me greatly that each one of you (city commissioners) didn't care enough about our health to notify us that there was a problem down there," she said. "I'm really, really angry because it affects my health."
John Regan, city chief operations officer, said there are "no health problems from the water."
"To put it into perspective, you would have a higher health risk swimming in a public pool then you would swimming in the effluent," he said. "This is the same water we're using to spray (the Water Treatment Plant) lawns and wash our trash trucks."
The treated fresh water dumped into the salt water marsh has disrupted the ecosystem and caused the area to become a vibrant green compared to the surrounding brown marsh, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The DEP has said the quality of the water from the pipeline is in compliance.
However, the DEP also is determining whether the city will be fined for the leaky pipe.
The city recently was fined by the Environmental Protection Agency for taking old landfill material from a site across the street from the Water Treatment Plant and dumping it into a water-filled borrow pit off Holmes Boulevard.
Seraphin, along with her husband, Tony, filed a petition with DEP against the city's original plan to fix the issue, and the project was frozen while the state investigated the plan, which is the usual procedure. The city then found a new plan to handle to waste.
Judith Seraphin warned she would keep her eye on the pipeline issue.
City staff will now start searching for a company to install the new pipeline. Regan has said he hopes the entire process of putting in the new pipe will take no more than six weeks at a cost of about $1 million.
He said the money will come from surplus funds in the city's utility budget.
City staff found a way to cut costs in the new pipe's construction using technology and equipment common in the oil industry. The new pipe would be fused together in the Intracoastal Waterway and then floated across the marsh during high tide and pulled into place.
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/071508/news_071508_064.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
No comments:
Post a Comment