St. Petersburg Times
December 06, 2000
WESLEY CHAPEL — Blamed last spring for fouling sprinkler heads at hundreds of Wesley Chapel homes, Pasco County has completed its Mr. Clean routine to the tune of $77,216.
The reimbursements paid for sprinkler repairs for about 530 homeowners who claimed hair, toilet paper and excrement landed on their lawns in the Meadow Pointe, Northwood and the Lakes at Northwood neighborhoods.
The problem stemmed from mid-April, when 25,000 gallons of smelly wastewater from a dormant pipe accidentally mixed with reclaimed water used by residents to irrigate grass.
Construction workers activated the pipe after the county reassured them the pipe was free of contaminants.
"I can't say it won't ever happen again," said Doug Bramlett, assistant county administrator in charge of utilities. "But it's just not a common thing."
Reclaimed water is the nutrient-rich, deodorized byproduct of sewage treatment used for watering by about 11 central Pasco subdivisions. The county produces about 2.4-million gallons of the stuff each day in east-central Pasco.
Most homeowners honestly billed the county for their clogged sprinkler heads, Bramlett said. But a few tried to slip unwarranted repairs past county bean counters, billing Pasco for new water lines unrelated to the April accident.
"We were checking them real close," Bramlett said.
As for the supply of reclaimed water, the drought is straining the system. Last month, the county reinstated twice-a-week water rationing. Homeowners, who pay about $6 a month for what many assumed would be an unlimited supply, are complaining.
Bramlett has also been forced to freeze construction of new lines. Developers like to include reclaimed water in their amenities packages for new home buyers. "I just don't have the water," Bramlett said.
Bramlett will meet this week with his counterparts in Tampa to discuss building a pipeline to pump some of Tampa's surplus reclaimed water to Pasco. The city discharges about 60-million gallons of treated wastewater into Tampa Bay every day.
That solution, if approved, is still four or five years away, Bramlett said.
Closer to home, Pasco plans to link the two reclaimed water systems it maintains on opposite sides of the county. When the project is complete by July 2002, excess New Port Richey reclaimed water will supply Meadow Pointe and other neighborhoods.
As a temporary fix during the drought, Pasco sought permission from the Southwest Florida Water Management District to dig shallow, widely dispersed wells for irrigation. The water district's answer: Forget about it.
"They won't even talk to us," Bramlett said.
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