Homeowners association handles repairs
From Feb. 16 to Feb. 18, an estimated 25,700 gallons of fully treated wastewater for irrigation spilled in Venice’s Bridle Oaks community after a break occurred in a pipeline, a City of Venice employee has notified the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).
The site of the incident was 824 Connemara Circle in Bridle Oaks, the report noted.
A customer called the Venice Utilities Department to alert staff to the pipeline problem, which occurred “downstream of the reclaimed master meter” for the private Bridle Oaks development, the report to FDEP said, referring to the treated wastewater.
As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) explains, “Water reuse, also called water recycling or water reclamation, is the treating and repurposing of ‘waste’ water, such as municipal wastewater or stormwater, for alternative uses like landscape irrigation or even drinking water.”
“The joints on a 3-inch tee [on the pipeline] appeared to have come loose,” the report explained. “The broken assembly was adjacent to Curry Creek,” it added, so the reclaimed water was washing into the creek “whenever the irrigation was on,” the report continued. “The representative [of Bridle Oaks] indicated the break happened 2-3 days prior,” the report added.
City of Venice workers “analyzed the master meter data to narrow down the window [during which] the break occurred and calculated the spill amount by subtracting the consumption during the leak period from the maximum consumption on days with the same irrigation scheduled as follows,” the report said: Monday, Feb. 16, the use was 5,636 gallons more than the heaviest other Monday [flow]” (Jan. 12),” while on Tuesday, Feb. 17, the use was even higher than normal: “20,067 gallons above the max of other Tuesdays …”
“The owner/association fixed the leak on the day it was reported,” the city advisory to FDEP pointed out. City staff observed the work to “be complete,” it added. “Therefore, no remedial action was necessary or possible.”