Newberry’s 500,000 Gallon Sinkhole Leak Shows No Sign Of Sewage

 

NEWBERRY – The City of Newberry is assuring residents that a 500,000-gallon treated water sinkhole leak has not led to contamination of area wells and that a boil water notice has not been necessary/

“The Florida Health Department has taken the lead in sampling the six wells in the area of the leak,” said Newberry City Manager Mike New. Although all test results have not been finalized, the Health Department has sampled all the wells they can.

“Only one of the wells they tested showed total coliform, which is not an indicator of sewage,” said New. “Fecal coliform, which would indicate sewage, was not found.” The well with the total coliform is likely due to the age of the well and the way in which it was constructed originally. Changes in well construction and regulation have improved over the years.

The City has indicated a willingness to provide bottled water to any well owner that tests positive for fecal coliform, but so far the Health Department has not found that to be necessary.

The effluent released into the aquifer had already been treated by the City and was to be sprayed onto a spray field. The water’s final filtering would have been its percolation through 75 – 100 feet of sand prior to reaching the aquifer.

The City currently puts out an average of 300,000 gallons of water per day on its 100-acre spray field. This aquifer leak is the equivalent of less than two days of sprayed pre-treated water. “It was not raw sewage,” said New. “Although the City is required to address the leak, it isn’t significant in the scheme of things based on the amount of water in the aquifer,” he said.

“We had a construction crew on site the day it had happened. Two days later we were putting in the sand and backfilling back to normal. Repairs took three – four days to complete from the time we found it,” said New.

The firm that fixed the leak is Coleman Construction. The company has no relation to City Commissioner Rick Coleman said the city manager. “They have been in Newberry for 20 years and the City has used them on several projects.”

Although some people have criticized the City for not going out to bid for the repairs, New said, “We have emergency procurement procedures in place and we followed those procedures.”

Initially, some residents were concerned about the leak. However, New said once the scope of the problem was explained, people seem to understand the situation and are less fearful.

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