Phase I water valves nearly completed
The Town of Fort Myers Beach is nearing completion for the first half of the emergency valve placement on Estero Boulevard. Phase I will be complete once workers for the Town’s Public Works Department finish placing a valve in the Times Square area.
“This is the final valve for Phase I,” said Beach Interim Deputy Public Works Director Scott Baker. “It’s a 20-inch line and the biggest line on the island.”
Three dug-out holes to get to the water lines can be seen in the Times Square area near the Top of the Mast parking area. The middle hole will be for the valve replacement, while the two surrounding dug-out areas are for plugging up the water lines to discontinue water flow.
“We can’t shut off the water, so we put stops in the line,” said Baker. “A valve will go in the middle (hole). So, basically, we’ll stop the water with a plug on both sides. Afterwards, we’ll come into this (hole), cut this line and put a valve in. Then, we’ll pull the plugs out. We’re just isolating this part to do the work, so everyone will still have water while we are doing this.”
Town officials had two choices for the project -the least expensive way was to shut off the water for the entire island but, due to the consequences, the plug method was chosen.
“We would have had to shut off the water for a day and put in a boil water notice,” said Baker. We’d also have to drain our million gallon tank. We didn’t want to do that. Water is a hot commodity.”
Interim Town Manager Jack Green, who served as the Town’s Public Works Director for the past three years, said the Town could have put in the valve for about half the price of what is being done now, but the cost of shutting down the entire system had far more grave consequences.
The Town had to shut the entire water system down a few months ago when a main water line broke. Green told the Beach Observer last week a prudent decision might not be the best method.
“We would end up with the 48-hour boiling water situation again,” he said. “The impact on our residents, businesses and property owners if we shut the water down again is severe.”
Town officials will begin its Phase II project once their existing work with Phase I has been completed.