Greg Veliz, Executive Director of the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this yesterday to talk about what’s going on with our water.
A leak showed up on Tuesday.
Veliz said, “It was a pretty substantial leak right in front of the old IHOP building, right there in Marathon. We have mandatory things that we must follow. For instance, if we drop below 20 psi for any time, whether it’s a second or an hour or whatever it happens to be, we have to issue a precautionary boil water notice, and then it’s up to the individual as to what their level of safety is. I personally don’t boil the water, but I think the thresholds are so low that if things were bad and we felt that the water was in question, we would put out a mandatory boil water.”
How is the replacement of the pipe coming along in Tavernier and the Upper Keys?
Veliz said, “We were planning a tie-in of the final piece that we’re putting in up in Tavernier, and we’re moving in that direction, so we had everything ready to back pump. We had all our people in place, and then we had a leak, so we had to cancel the tie in and use the water and everyone we had in place to back pump water up to the leak. So it couldn’t have happened at a better time if it had to happen.”
How do the reverse osmosis plants play into the leaks?
Veliz said, “The one in Stock Island, it’s capable of making 4 million gallons a day, and we usually try to keep it from a maintenance standpoint at 2 million gallons, alternating between sides, so it’s not like we expanded the use of it last night. We never did go to the 4 million gallons, we just, we do have that capability, and we will soon have that capability in Marathon.”
How are we looking as far as getting the support and the funding needed to continue these projects?
Veliz said, “We’ve been very fortunate at the state level. I think everybody understands the importance that the Keys plays in not only local but state economics, and they understand the need for water, and there’s only one coming in, and we have to maintain that. So if we shut down, everything shuts down. So I think everyone understands that, and they pay close attention to making sure we get what we need to keep moving.”
The aqueduct authority is an important part of hurricane preparedness.
Veliz said, “As far as I know, we’ve only lost water I think it was during Irma. And what happened there, where we just lost so many local services, people had left. It was supposed to be a big storm, a lot of people had evacuated, and every PVC line that was run to every dock or attached to every fence blew down, and we just ended up bleeding out through a million paper cuts. So now our messaging has changed. If you plan on evacuating, please call us or shut your water off at the street. We will come out and do it for you, just so that we can somehow manage if you’re not there, we won’t have to search on your property for whatever had broken and try to limit the amount of bleeding that we’re going to do after a storm.”
It’s important to conserve water during the hot weather.
Veliz said, “Rain is our friend. When it starts to rain, automatic shutoffs, as I’ve said many, many times, irrigation is our number one user of water. 5 o’clock in the morning on whatever day seems to be our biggest time. So, yeah, anytime we can activate those automatic shutoffs and miss watering for a little bit, it helps us a great deal.”
For more information, click here: https://www.fkaa.com/