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Pressure rises in backflow valve fight

Some resist a county order to install the device on their sprinkler systems.

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET, Times Staff Writer
Published August 31, 2007

David Brown held stacks of complaints and pages of computer printouts.

For weeks he had researched the county's backflow prevention ordinance, lobbied commissioners and urged neighbors to fight back.

But on a Tuesday afternoon in the middle of his battle, the 69-year-old retiree from Sun City Center paused at a lectern and read his horoscope to county officials.

The power of convincing others is due to your excellent manners, enthusiasm and cultured outlook. Don't step on people's feet, even with a smile.

He grinned and ripped off the wrapping paper on a box beside him. Then he pulled out a large white sheet cake, covered with butterscotch frosting and an elaborate decoration: "Happy Birthday, Bob!"

At the bottom, Brown had used icing to draw his recipe for disaster: a house, a piece of plumbing and poison pumping into the public water supply.

"The skull and crossbones are the people who are going to die if you don't change the ordinance," he said.

* * *

"Bob" is Robert DiCecco, Hillsborough County's cross connection control coordinator. He turned 61 last week - about three months after violation notices started popping up in Brown's neighborhood.

The piece of plumbing is a backflow valve, which the county requires residents to install if they use wells or lakes to water their lawns.

It prevents cross connections, which can allow contaminated water to enter the county's system. Purchase and installation costs total around $600.

DiCecco says the county's backflow valve requirements stem from a federal law. He said that's the only approach that will work to protect the public water supply. And he said the valves provide no greater opportunity for terrorists than an indoor faucet. "We don't have a choice," he said. "It's not something you can just turn off because you don't want to do it."

But Brown sees things differently. The retired computer programmer turned inventor says people can steal the street-side valves or use them to pump poison into the water system. And he has a demonstration to prove it.

"For terrorists and vandals and disgruntled people, these things are a godsend," he said.

* * *

Concerns about the valves extend beyond Sun City Center.

Several residents in Apollo Beach who recently received notices of violation from the county have also started speaking out, claiming the ordinance places an unfair financial burden on residents.

"If it's necessary to put backflow protection devices in, the county ought to eat it," Jerry Tootle, 67, of Apollo Beach told county officials last week. "It's your water."

After more than 30 residents in the Symphony Isles neighborhood received violation notices several weeks ago, Jeff Wortner worked with a local plumbing company to negotiate a better installation deal.

But the 46-year-old Symphony Isles resident said it's unfair only to require those with irrigation systems to hook up. Anyone with a garden hose, he said, is just as likely to contaminate the water supply.

"I think every house should have one. I think they're a good thing to have to protect the drinking water," he said. "And I think the county should step up and provide them as part of the service."

DiCecco says inspectors have been enforcing the ordinance across the county for years. As a result of notices of violation, he said, 1,624 have been installed in the past few years.

"It's nothing new and it's going to be around for a long time," he said.

* * *

But recent concern from residents has drawn the attention of County Commissioner Al Higginbotham, state Sen. Ronda Storms and state Rep. Seth McKeel.

Commissioners are scheduled to discuss the issue at a meeting Sept. 6.

Several alternatives may be on the table, including annual cross connection inspections or installing valves below ground during water meter replacements.

But DiCecco said the issue is not open for debate.

"They seem to think that green grass is a right by the Constitution. It's not," he said.

Public safety is more important, he said.

"And we did throw away the cake, by the way."

Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or 661-2454.

[Last modified August 30, 2007, 08:08:07]