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Old pipes might tinge new water
By LISA GREENE, Times Staff Writer If you have old plumbing in your house, Pinellas County officials say you need to be warned: Replace it now or you could see tinted water pour from your faucet. But don't pull out your wallet just yet. Tampa Bay Water officials think the county's worries are premature. "It would be like Chicken Little saying "the sky is falling in,' " said Ann Hildebrand, chairwoman of the Tampa Bay Water board. "You would create havoc and undue nervousness in the Tampa Bay area." Even Pick Talley, the county's utilities director, backpedaled when asked about what homeowners should be told. "Maybe that was a poor choice of words," Talley said of the county's earlier letter to Tampa Bay Water, asking them to warn customers. "I'm not sure if I would tell them to replace it or wait to see if they have a problem." The bottom line: Nobody's going to tell homeowners to start replacing galvanized and unlined iron pipe any time soon. They might have to do so in the next year, after Tampa Bay Water begins delivering new water. "It's too early to know for sure," said County Commissioner Susan Latvala, who also sits on the Tampa Bay Water board. Latvala said she doesn't agree with the county's request. "We don't want to scare the bejabbers out of people, and we don't want people to think they have to rush out and do this tomorrow," she said. At the end of the year, Tampa Bay Water will start delivering a new mix of water to customers in St. Petersburg, Tampa, and in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties. Over several months, the groundwater the area now gets will be replaced with a mix of groundwater, river water and desalinated sea water. Pinellas County scientists are worried because studies show the new water could strip iron and other minerals from the inside of water pipes, tinting the water reddish-brown. Tampa Bay Water scientists plan to add chemicals to the water that they hope will prevent such corrosion. Most local utilities officials have said that should solve the problem, but Pinellas scientists remain concerned. Galvanized and unlined iron pipe likely would have the biggest problem. Pinellas, which has a large amount of that pipe in its water lines, is racing to replace it during the next year. Earlier this month, Commission Chairwoman Barbara Sheen Todd signed a lengthy letter to Hildebrand, telling her that since Tampa Bay Water told utilities to replace that pipe, the water supplier should tell homeowners to do so as well. Both Todd and Talley say he advised her on the letter. Utilities officials don't know how many local homes have such plumbing. Builders stopped using the pipe by the 1970s, and it has already been replaced in many homes. It's not inexpensive. Replacing pipe on a 2,000 square foot home could cost anywhere from $1,500 to $6,000, depending how complex the plumbing is, said two local plumbing company managers. "I kind of found it an interesting letter," said Chris Owen, water quality scientist at Tampa Bay Water. "It seems out of character" for Pinellas officials. None of the other utilities have asked Tampa Bay Water to notify customers, Owen said. Owen said iron pipe owners may have problems with tinted water already, and she's hoping to keep the new water from causing corrosion. But if homeowners need to make changes, the agreement that created Tampa Bay Water spells out that it's up to individual utilities, not Tampa Bay Water, to tell them, she said. Todd said she relied on Talley's advice in making the request. "I have to rely on our scientists," she said. But she's not worried that the county and the water supplier's scientists disagree. "We are all part of Tampa Bay Water," Todd said. "It's not an us vs. them. We truly need to work together."
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