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Water utility's practices face state scrutiny

Regulators want answers to concerns over service shutdowns and a flood of customers' complaints.

By PHIL DAVIS
Published July 9, 2005

Lindrick Services Corp. has a lot of explaining to do.

Deborah Getzoff, director of the state Department of Environmental Protection's southwest district, said she initially called Lindrick owner Joe Borda in for a July 15 meeting to discuss the possible illegal connection of two wells close to septic tanks.

Now state regulators also want to know if the private water utility had the proper permits to do work that triggered a nine-hour shutdown of services to more than 9,000 customers on June 29. They also want to discuss a flood of customers' complaints about poor water pressure, frequent loss of service and little or no notification of boil water orders.

"We expect to have a complete discussion of all the issues currently of concern," Getzoff said.

Borda could not be reached for comment Friday. Last week, he told the St. Petersburg Times that the utility does the best it can with an older water system. He argued that the utility needs permission to hook up more wells to provide better service.

"We've been attempting to resolve that for years," Borda said. "Our efforts will not dwindle. Sooner or later, someone will recognize the benefit of it."

The possible unauthorized connection to two new wells caught the attention of state regulators. On May 26, Getzoff sent Borda a warning letter asking him to explain whether two "unapproved sources of water" were connected to the utility's system without the proper permits. Getzoff said the wells are too close to septic systems.

Getzoff said even if the wells are connected to the system, there is no danger to consumers. All water is treated before it is sent out to customers' taps.

On June 29, Borda said work on a water line triggered an unexpected valve malfunction that shut down the water supply to all Lindrick customers in the seaside communities of Gulf Harbors, Sea Forest and neighboring condominiums. It took nine hours to restore service.

On June 30, state investigators found a leak that prompted another 90-minute shutdown. The back-to-back outages and the holiday weekend forced Lindrick customers to boil their drinking water for a week. Customers filed dozens of complaints with state and local officials.

Getzoff said it was premature to discuss any possible penalties against the utility.

"This is the information-gathering stage of our investigation," Getzoff said. "We need to complete our investigation to understand the circumstance and get a better idea of how we want to proceed."

[Last modified July 9, 2005, 01:02:12]