City says contractor’s location wrong
Fort Lauderdale – Fort Lauderdale never warned a contractor that a critical water line lay buried where workers planned to dig last week, a report shows, but city officials say that’s because the contractor supplied the wrong address.
The misinformation led to a failure that ultimately dried up the city’s water supply and led to days of boil-water orders.
Taps ran dry hours after the contractor drilled into the water supply line July 17. Countless businesses were forced to close, and more than 200,000 people were left without water to drink or shower.
The contractor, Florida Communication Concepts, used a service called Sunshine 811 to find out whether there were underground utilities it had to watch out for while doing work for Florida Power & Light Co. The statewide utility service is authorized under Florida law
and is the state’s official resource for companies and individuals planning underground work.
The report shows Fort Lauderdale never told the contractor that the site in the back of 2525 NW 55th Court contained a 42-inch pipe that supplied raw water to the main water treatment plant. Instead, the city indicated that it didn’t provide service there, according to the report from Sunshine 811.
Deputy City Manager Rob Hernandez said the city’s water line isn’t on that property; it’s 75 feet north. The digging was being done to the north and east of the requested location, he said.
“It appears that where the contractor was digging is not where they indicated on the 811 ticket,” Hernandez said. “Our investigation is still ongoing.”
The owner of Florida Communication Concepts, Tim Hicks, said he couldn’t comment, and FPL has declined to answer reporters’ questions.
Contractors contact Sunshine 811 to alert agencies about the work they plan to do and to find out whether there are pipes or underground facilities they need to avoid when digging. The service then alerts the utilities, which are supposed to inform the contractor whether they have lines in the area and mark them if they do.
Florida Communication Concepts filed a ticket with Sunshine 811 on June 25 to install conduit in July for FPL near Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, records show.
Sunshine 811 notified Fort Lauderdale and nine other entities, based on maps they submitted to Sunshine 811 that indicated it was possible they could have equipment near the work site.
Tamarac and Crown Castle Fiber responded that they had no facilities there. Oakland Park, Teco People’s Gas of South Florida and CenturyLink said their lines were outside of the work site.
Others said they did have equipment in the area. Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, Comcast Cable, AT&T and FPL indicated that they marked the locations of their lines for the contractor. Fort Lauderdale responded as well, but it used a code indicating that no city utilities were present at that excavation site. The code it used said “another company provides the services at this location.” That code typically is used by utilities that do not have services at that exact location, according to Sunshine 811’s online site.
Hernandez said that’s because the city doesn’t have any water lines at the property address the contractor listed. He also said Florida Communication Concepts said on its Sunshine 811 form that it would not be doing boring, but that’s how the city’s pipe was pierced.
Fort Lauderdale receives dozens of requests each day from Sunshine 811 for underground line information. Sunshine 811 sent the city 20,501 notices last year and 12,635 so far this year, the service reported. The requests go to the city’s distribution and collections chief for its water and wastewater services.
A city police report filed at the time the line was punctured said the company had used the line-locating service. However, it cited Florida Communication Concepts for not having a permit for the work, violating city codes. It issued the contractor a “Notice to Appear” citation. City officials said a date has not been set for a hearing.
It’s not clear whether a permit was needed. Hernandez said last week that FPL has a franchise agreement with the city that does not require the utility to get a permit every time it digs.