St. Augustine Record: PIPELINE REPAIR TOOK TOO LONG

WILLIAM. B. HARRISS Photo credit: J.D. Pleasant

It was in the Record's editorial on July 20th -- see below
EDITORIAL: Pipeline Repair Took Too Long

Pipe line repair took too long

Publication Date: 07/20/08

The St. Augustine City Commission has approved spending up to $1 million to replace a broken pipeline the city's known about for four years.

In good times, the 1,600-foot pipeline transported treated water from the city's wastewater treatment plant on Riberia Street into the Intracoastal Waterway. Since at least 2004, it has squandered treated water on a salt water marsh ecosystem. The marsh is not dead, it's just not the way it should be, brown in color rather than vibrant green.

The original cost to remedy the broken pipewas estimated by a private consultant at $2.5 million to $3.9 million. "We could have done it faster; it would have meant a lot more resources and we would have had to just open up the bank account," said John Regan, the city's chief operations officer, last week.

City Manager Bill Harriss concurred. He said he polled the City Commissioners individually at the time and each agreed that it was too costly and that a cheaper process should be found.
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