Let’s talk water in the Keys

Greg Veliz, executive director for the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about water in the area.

There was a pretty big leak recently in Marathon.

Veliz said, “We discovered through initially a leak in Marathon, a 12 inch main which serviced about 2,000 homes and some businesses that it was in poor shape. When we dug it up, we fixed, as we ordinarily do, we fixed the leak that we saw, and the minute we fixed that leak, and the pressure was restored to the line, it blew a few feet down, then it blew several feet down from that and it continued to blow. I think it blew two or three times the first day, then we went home and woke up to it a hole even further down the line. So we discovered that the pipe was bad. So then we had to first restore service to the 2,000 units, and then we had to make plans for the future. So we’ve identified about, I think it’s 2,500 feet of pipe that needs to be replaced, 400 of it was really, really bad. So we went up to Miami, we got the 400 feet, we came down and laid it, and now that’s now operable. So it was a major repair, and it’s going to continue, but that will strengthen that entire and then make 2,000 of our customers have much more security, and when it comes to their water.”

It definitely illustrates the point of the need to repair the lines up and down the Keys.

Veliz said, “Obviously our goal is never to have a break, never to have interruptions in service, never to cause anyone an inconvenience. But it seems as though, when you have leaks, people tend to come to you with funding to fix your system. When there’s periods of quiet then the funds seem less available because it doesn’t seem as urgent. So that’s a challenge. While repairing the line and making everybody feel more secure in their water, we have to still emphasize to the to the powers that be, that in order to maintain that and continue to offer that level of service, we need to have funding and it’s hard to justify funding when everything’s running perfectly. So it’s a catch 22. The better you get, the harder the funding. But you need more funding to get better than that.”

Do the leaks take away from funding for other projects?

Veliz said, “When we get into a repair, we do most of that in house, which is our most cost effective way of handling things. Obviously, with the amount of work that we’re doing right now and the scope of the work that we’re doing right now, it kind of exceeds our abilities. Most of our big jobs are being done by contractors and they remain on the jobs that they’re doing, and we take care of these unexpected repairs with in house help. Now we do pull them off of other things, but that’s just part of what we do. The bigger projects don’t get impacted as much.”

The new RO plant in Stock Island is headed toward a grand opening.

Veliz said, “It’s going to be a big event. There’s people coming down from Tallahassee. It’s not every day that people open up a plant that can produce 4 million gallons of drinking water from sea water. That’s not something that happens every day in every community. And yet, we’re about to experience it now, and we’re going to experience it twice. So it’s a big deal in Tallahassee, and it’s a big deal to the people that were involved, and it should be a big deal to everyone and we’re going to make a big deal of it. We’re going to have a grand opening, and there’s going to be people here and it’s a big day for the entire community.”

Plans are to have water coming through the new RO plant in April.

Veliz said, “When you have a plan this year that’s going to produce 20% of the Florida Keys drinking water, or is capable of doing, that’s a big day.”

What’s been going on with fluoride in the water?

Veliz said, “From our standpoint, it’s very simple. There have been questions as to whether fluoride is necessary or possibly detrimental to some people, and it’s been in our water for a number of years. We’ve added fluoride. Then you have the American Dental Association that says fluoride is good, and it’s mostly good for children, which is our most important population. However, the way we’re looking at it is far more simple. There are a lot of products out there that have fluoride in. If we continue to put it in the water, then we’re mandating that people use fluoride, even the ones that don’t want to. If we pull it out and we give people an option, it doesn’t really change the water, except that there is no fluoride and the people that want to add fluoride to their diet or to their teeth, can do so. There are more than enough products out there that will do that for you. So to us, it becomes a matter of choice. Do we want to give the people a choice whether they want to have fluoride in their diet or not? Or do we want to impose it on people by putting it in the drinking water? That’s basically the choice we have in front of us. We put out a very non scientific, it was at the request of our board, just put it out on Facebook and, hey, weigh in, we’d like to hear what you and there were the political side, and we tried to filter through those and just the people that weighed in, and it was about 50/50. It’s like everything else is now. So it was about 50/50.”

Will there be any changes with the Donald Trump administration in the White House?

Veliz said, “Conversations are being had in here two or three times a day. What’s coming down the pipe? How does it affect us? And try to stay in front of it. That’s basically what we’re doing and we’re not anticipating anything major, but I know that the fluoride issue is tied to that in some indirect way. So I don’t know how that’s going to affect down the road, but we’ll continue to maintain. We’ll make decisions and policy changes as it need be. I just want to thank everyone for being patient with us. Our guys are really, you see them out there working and people come home to no water, but they passed our guys on the highway. We’ll stay out there until it’s done.”