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Waterlines OK'd

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 12, 2007

Updated: 12/10/2007 06:55 pm

SEFFNER - Design work is under way for pipelines that will provide a safe source of drinking water to residents on rural Buster Bean Drive.

It has been five years since Seffner activist Cam Oberting began pleading with the county to provide water to seven residents on the one-lane dirt road off County Road 579.

The Hillsborough County Solid Waste Department has been testing private wells on Buster Bean and in the surrounding area for the better part of 20 years because of its proximity to the Taylor Road Landfill, a federally designated Superfund site.

A plume of contamination sits underground, below the old landfill. The county monitors nearby private wells to ensure the plume isn't migrating.

Mercury and other pollutants show up intermittently in private wells along CR 579, including Oberting's. But because the pollutant levels are well below what is considered dangerous for drinking water, the state has not tried to determine the source.

"I'm hoping these will be the first waterlines installed in the area, but not the last," Oberting said. "And they need to determine the source of the contamination."

Winona and Van Bradley, who have lived on Buster Bean for many years, look forward to getting county water.

"My husband is 80, and I'm not far behind," Winona Bradley said. "If our well goes, we're not financially or physically able to replace it. So, yes, we are greatly looking forward to getting those waterlines."

The design work for the lines should be completed by April, and construction could get under way by May or June, said Dave Adams, environmental manager for the county's Solid Waste Management Department.

The project will cost about $175,000, which will come from the department's capital improvement plan budget. A portion of that, $40,000, will offset a fine the Environmental Protection Commission imposed against the solid waste department for a violation at the south Hillsborough County garbage transfer station, Adams said.

The EPC fined the department for a leachate spill that Adams disputes. He said soil tests showed some type of oil, possibly cooking oil, had been spilled at the site.

The EPC agreed to consider an in-kind payment through construction of the waterlines.

"It's going to be a great project," Adams said. "I hope the county as a whole pushes for more waterlines in that area."

Because there is no shallow aquifer in the Seffner area, anything that goes onto the ground seeps directly to the deep Floridan aquifer, the source of drinking water for the area, Adams said.

"Anything from the surface can trickle straight into the Floridan aquifer," including sewage from septic tanks, he said. "Because of that, the county should consider providing more waterlines out there."

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 657-4532 or at yhammett@tampatrib.com.

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