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Water independence is not free
By MATTHEW WAITE, Times Staff Writer
PORT RICHEY -- Three years ago, amid the noise of a rancorous debate over buying a water utility, Port Richey City Manager Vince Lupo talked about one of his dreams for the city: water independence. Tuesday night, the Port Richey City Council heard about a big step toward Lupo's wish: a $3.1-million project that would drill six new wells to provide enough water so the city wouldn't have to buy from its neighbor, New Port Richey. "We feel we can meet the city's demand for the next 10 years," city utilities consultant Gary Deremer said Tuesday night. The ability to change pumped water for bought water might not sound like much, but the cost for Port Richey to produce water from the ground is about a dollar cheaper per 1,000 gallons than to buy from New Port Richey. Deremer said the city, if it goes forward with the project, would save $164,270 a year over the term of the debt, and that figures in construction costs. Council members heard about the proposal during a workshop in which they couldn't vote on the project. The council will eventually have to decide on funding for the project, among other items. And the new water does come with a price tag. The city has to build the wells, lay 6,500 feet of pipe to get the water from the wells to the plant, install a new 500,000-gallon storage tank, and it will need to add filtration, sludge handling and disinfecting equipment to the city's water plant to make it work. The water plant improvements are $1-million alone. But the city will have to pay some of that anyway, Deremer said. Changes to state standards on water treatment will require the city to make some of the changes regardless of new wells. The city currently uses 1.1-million gallons of water a day. The new wells will give the city 1.3-million gallons of water a day. However, Deremer said the pipe to New Port Richey would not be cut off so there would be a backup in case something went wrong. It was unclear when the project will go to the council for a vote. But if it's approved as planned, the city hopes to be done by October 2004, Deremer said. "It's a fairly major endeavor," Deremer said. In other news, customers of the Port Richey city water utility may notice their water is cloudy starting Thursday night. The utility will be flushing the water lines nightly from 11:30 p.m. until 6 a.m., starting Thursday night, and will repeat the process until all the water lines are flushed. Flushing water lines is part of maintenance for the water system and is supposed to help prevent problems in the lines, including taste, color and odor of the water and corrosion of the water lines. Bingo update The Port Richey City Council was debating the repeal of the city's controversial bingo ordinance late Tuesday night. To find out what happened, go to www.sptimes.com and click on "News Update."
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