Price to replace Keys water pipes? More than $1 billion, utility boss says
The head of the Florida Keys’ water utility said the cost to replace all of the pipes in the system would be more than $1 billion.
The statement he made on a Sunday news show came in the same month the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority had three watermain breaks in one week, temporarily reducing supply and pressure to thousands of homes and businesses south of Islamorada in the Upper Keys all the way to Key West.
The leaks also forced the utility to reduce its flow from its mainland source in Florida City, depleting water stored in tanks buried up and down U.S. 1, Greg Veliz, the FKAA’s
executive director said on WPLG-ABC 10’s “This Week in South Florida.”
To help replenish the storage tanks, the FKAA has been asking customers to reduce water usage.
Water-main breaks aren’t the only issue with FKAA’s system. On Wednesday, the utility sent
out an alert that an airrelease valve broke on Big Pine Key in the Lower Keys. To make repairs, the utility said it would be “choking down the main, which will make customers in the area feel like they have low pressure to possibly no water.”
The pipes throughout the
Keys’ system are more than 40 years old, and Veliz said there are bound to be more breaks — which usually means traffic is tied up on U.S. 1, the only major road through the island chain, for up to 12 hours.
They need replacing, but so far the only pending project is replacing five miles of pipe in Islamorada. The $42 million project is scheduled to begin in April and be finished in February 2025.
There is no other money as of now to pay for the rest of the 130 miles of pipe, and Veliz said the cost to replace the old pipes is $7 million to $10 million per mile.