Going out on limb fixes hole
Workers plug very critical water main with help from tree
FORT LAUDERDALE – With imminent doom threatening Fort Lauderdale’s drinking water system, repair crews grabbed hold of a tree limb and pulled a MacGyver last week to keep the city’s water flowing.
The damaged water pipe was hours away from completely cutting off the city’s water supply when crews implemented a truly back-to-nature solution — stuffing a log into a hole in the pipe to stop the water from gushing out.
The tree limb plugged the hole a contractor had drilled into the pipe. Once it was in place and strapped down, it and the pipe were encased in concrete.
“I thought they were very resourceful. They needed a quick fix,” Mayor Dean Trantalis said.
City officials were reluctant to say if the log was from a limb, branch or trunk.
“The contractor used a wooden plug from a tree,” city spokesman Chaz Adams said. Using wood for emergency repairs is common, he said.
Playing the role of MacGyver, the television hero with an unconventional approach to problem solving, was contractor David Mancini and Sons, which will do a permanent repair of the pipe and had the idea because of similar emergency repairs it had done in the past. Envirowaste made the temporary repair Thursday.
Deputy City Manager Rob Hernandez said when the wood interacts with water, it “swells up, forming a plug like a cork.”
It was a situation that could have left less experienced workers stumped.
“The pipe was in good condition other than the area around the hole,” Adams said. “Once the wooden plug was in place, straps were wrapped around the pipe and over the plug to secure it in place.”
FORT LAUDERDALE – Six days after a construction-related water pipe break disrupted service for the 220,000 customers served by the city of Fort Lauderdale, all water was declared safe to drink again.
The final boil-water notices that remained in effect for parts of Fort Lauderdale and Oakland Park were lifted Tuesday morning.
Areas of Oakland Park given the all clear include the neighborhoods bordered by Interstate 95 on the west, Andrews Avenue on the east, Northwest 38th Street on the north, and Oakland Park Boulevard to the south.
Another area where the water is safe to drink is within North Dixie Highway on the west, Cherry Creek on the east, Northeast 38th Street on the north, and the C-13 Middle River Canal to the south.
Bacteriological surveys showed that the water was safe for drinking and for all other uses, according to the city and Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The Harbor Beach, Harbour Inlet, Harbour Isles, and Breakwater Surf Homes neighborhoods were the final areas in Fort Lauderdale to have their boil-water advisories lifted.
The affected streets include: all of South Ocean Drive from SE 20 St. north to the Cul-de-sac; the 1200 block of Southeast Seabreeze Boulevard to the Mercedes River Bridge; Mayan Drive, Grace Drive, Marion Drive, Barbara Drive from SE 25 Ave. to S. Ocean Drive; Anchor Drive west of S. Ocean Drive; SE 26 Ave. from Anchor Drive to Inlet Drive; SE 26 Terrace south of Anchor Drive; 2717 Harbor Beach Pkwy, officials said.
The water main break started out as a small leak on July 17. The pipe collapsed while crews were making overnight repairs near Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, a city official said.
The crisis impacted an estimated 220,000 customers in Fort Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Davie, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Wilton Manors and the areas of Tamarac and Lauderhill serviced by Fort Lauderdale. It prompted national headlines and it trained a spotlight on the city’s aging water system.