Boil order lifted in Rio Vista in Fort Lauderdale

Emergency repairs have been completed to a broken valve in the Rio Vista neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale. The city says the water is safe to drink.

But sections of the Tarpon River and Riverside Park neighborhoods remain under boil water orders after samples tested Friday failed inspection.

In Rio Vista, a valve on an 8-inch water main had ruptured Monday night. Hours after the break, the city sent out a boil-water order to 40 properties in Rio Vista near Cordova Road and Southeast 11th Street.

The boil-water notice was the third issued by the city since Feb. 8.

Boil-water orders remain in effect until the city gets passing test results for two consecutive days on water coming through a repaired main.

The break was the latest in a spate of burst pipes emptying into the city’s waterways. More than 126 million gallons of toxic sewage spilled in Fort Lauderdale waterways in December alone, killing fish and heightening fears about water quality.

The city says its crews completed repairs to a 16-inch water main under the South Fork of the New River. But although those water samples passed inspection on Thursday, they failed on Friday. Officials were set to retest the water later Friday, and if samples tested negative for bacteria again on Saturday, the boil water notice would be lifted.

The boundaries of the boil water order are: the North Fork of the

New River to the north, Davie Boulevard to the south, Southwest 15th Avenue to the west and the Tarpon River, including Southwest 7th Street and the South Fork of the New River to the east.

City officials say they plan to spend $600 million over the next five years repairing and replacing the city’s oldest pipes. The total tally is expected to hit at least $1.4 billion over the next 20 years.