I know we have 10 categories to choose from in Fix it Now and usually my posts fit nicely under transportation or suburban sprawl but this one really needs another category, WTF will probably do it.
Boy, just a few short days to celebrate the death of the Bypass/ Green Swath of Death and then I read the July 1 front page of the Trib showing the cracks in the reservoir. Great, so I won't have a road destroying my community but now I might need to don my scuba gear to get out to the barn. Tampa Bay Water (who look to me like the TBARTA of water with their regional board) are saying that the reservoir is safe (yeah and their inspectors said they had 12 inches of cement when it turns out there is only actually 3 in some places). Hmmm, claiming to have 12 inches while really only sporting 3…………. seems to me that overestimating how well-endowed the reservoir is could be disastrous. When it comes to holding back 15 billion gallons of water, I think size probably does matter and oh yeah, taxpayers paid for 12 inches! This photo is from last year's report that I found on their website, so they have known about this for some time.
When we first heard these rumblings last year we were told everything is fine, and not to worry our pretty heads about it. I was busy fighting a road at the time and Ronda Storms said in the paper she would take care of it. (hey, give me some credit here for not making a comment about Storms). After reading the most recent article about the cracks, I contacted some of our BOCC (Commissioners Higginbotham and Sharpe are on TBW). Mr. Johnson, Higginbotham's aide, replied promptly via e-mail and gave me some information about the reservoir. Mr. Johnson explained that the soil-cement was a less expensive alternative than other options such as rip-rap. He also made me aware that it was "essentially recycled material" since the native soil from the excavation was used. (Not a good case for recycling but I give him an A for effort on that one). He also provided parts of David Carrier's June 20th report and describes Carrier as the state expert from FDEP on dams and reservoirs. Carrier reports his findings from the consultants Black and Veatch who are excavating the test pits. Here are the parts of his report that scare me: the B and V folks found seepage/erosion conduits in the soil beneath the geotextile. The diameter of the conduits varies from several about 8 inches; and they "evidently meander beneath the soil cement."
Evidently meander? Hey, I am not a scientist or engineer but evidently meandering past the layer that of geotextile that is supposed to be keeping the water out of my neighborhood does not make me feel safe. It gets worse he is later quoted in the report: "In one of the conduits a tape measure could be pushed to a length of 12 feet, but presumably it extends even farther." Presumably? How much money does this guy get paid to presumably inspect the reservoir that evidently has some meandering holes underneath the cracking surface? These types of descriptions from an expert beg the question………… Is he inspecting crack or smoking it? As you can probably tell, I wasn't feeling too confident about this guy when I read the end of his report "In particular, the geomembrane deep in the embankment has not been breached and the safety of the dam has not been compromised." Um……Mr. Expert, how long before those 12 ft (but presumably farther) conduits extending beneath the geotextile meander even farther? What happens when the dam has 15 billion gallons of water in it instead of just under the 4 billion gallons that it is holding now?
Why should you care especially if you don't happen to live in rural Lithia? Because your tax dollars built this cracking mess and it is costing a fortune to fix it. After reading Wayne's recent article on Ralph Hughes, concrete mogul, and his ties to 6 of our 7 current county commissioners I am surprised they couldn't at least get us a deal on real concrete.
My question is how far does 15 billion gallons spread if the reservoir is completely breached? Can anybody presumably guess just how far that water will meander if it breaks through the rest of the barriers? TBW is proposing to put another reservoir out here. I say NO. Why should one little corner of the region assume so much of the risk for all the counties (Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas) that TBW supplies to? The land surrounding the current reservoir will be for hiking, biking and horse trails and it is scheduled to be opened next spring. This sounds great but adding another reservoir would decrease the land available for this and certainly increase the risk they have already imposed on our community.
TBW needs to FIX IT NOW but the question is how? The pictures in the Trib show them patching up the visible cracks where the reservoir is dry but I wonder how they patch those cracks underwater and how do they fix that tunneling that is described outside the cracks and in the mound itself? You can contact TBW here and ask them. You can contact our BOCC here and let them know if you have concerns. Mr. Johnson assured me that Commissioner Higginbotham will continue to monitor the reservoir very closely and remains committed to ensuring the safety and continued operation of the reservoir. I do hope that is the case but if living in rural Lithia has taught me anything it is that citizens need to pay attention and look out for ourselves.
UPDATE: Since this was submitted I heard back from Eric Larson, Commissioner Mark Sharpe's aide. I have found him to be accommodating and helpful anytime I have a question or request. He provided me with more information (in the linked .pdf) regarding the structure itself and assures me that the safety of the dam has not been compromised. He provided contact information to TBW and suggested I attend the next TBW Board Meeting on August 18 in Clearwater and put my concerns on the record. I did email TBW on July 3 regarding this issue and have yet to hear back from them. I also questioned what they were filling the cracks in with since it looked like real concrete and not soil-cement to me in the pictures. Mr. Larson informed me it was grout cement.
I also heard back from Mr. Johnson who expressed confidence in the state inspector. They both harped on the fact that the soil-cement is not what is holding back the water it is just a wave-attenuation (so I could have been surfing in Lithia if not for this wave-attenuation device?) and that the cracks have nothing to do with the integrity of the structure. It is the "evidently meanders beneath the geotextile" part that is scary to me. I am glad that I am a good swimmer just in case that meandering continues.
This article appears in Jul 9-15, 2008.