This city uses duct tape to solve water quality problems

RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. – A former Riviera Beach employee said one source of water quality problems plaguing the city’s utility is a lack of maintenance at the utility’s only water treatment plant.

The Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County is investigating the Riviera Beach Special Utilities District violating state or federal laws regarding water quality.

Documents show that the state agency has opened a new investigation – the fourth within twelve months — to the employee’s complaint about unsafe conditions after he wrote about workers suffering burns from corrosive lime dust in the air.

“The lime spray is constantly leaking and needs to be cleaned and is splashed all over us as we clean up the mess,” said Robert Walker, a former Riviera Beach employee, in his complaint to the health department. “We get chemical burns on our skin all the time. We breathe lime dust because there is no vacuum system to capture the dust in the air.”

Robert Walker

Robert Walker

WPTV’s Ethan Stein spoke with Walker, who said he took these photos this year at the water treatment plant, where duct tape was used to repair equipment. He said the machine would leak and harm workers.

“The workers deserve a clean work environment and they should not be covered in limescale and have chemical burns on their skin or inhale limestone dust,” Walker said. “…It burns. It’s just: They deserve better than that.”

In an email, a spokesperson for the city of Riviera Beach said the health department conducted an inspection about 10 days ago. It said the agency found the facilities were in full compliance and conditions were assessed as satisfactory.

The city provided a document to WPTV showing that the city’s water treatment plant is in “satisfactory compliance” with regard to air pollution. However, the inspector did find excess residue on the ground floor and surfaces. They recommended proper cleaning, personal protective equipment for workers and reusable dust control.

MAINTENANCE PROBLEMS

Walker said the lack of maintenance at the plant endangers public safety. He said the problem with the ‘lime chamber’ is a pattern throughout the plant. He said that in one case, the water basins in the southern part of the city are rusting.

“Does tetanus grow on rusty surfaces, I don’t know?” Walker said.But I know I wouldn’t want to drink it.”

WPTV

He said he would bring his own water to work to avoid drinking city water. Walker also said he would find cracks in city well covers. He said those cracks allow animal waste to enter the water system, but a solution has never been found.

“I mean, it’s just basic basic maintenance and it doesn’t take that long to fix,” Walker said. “…There’s no reason for it.”

City officials have emphasized that the solution is a new water treatment plant, which will cost more than $300 million. Walker said the plant is needed to comply with newer regulations, but these are simple fixes that don’t require significant money, something he sees other utility districts complete regularly.

An October 2023 EPA inspection found that the system does not keep records of the maintenance performed.

Robert Walker

“In other districts, when things need to be done, like maintenance, they get it done,” he said. “It’s amazing. It’s like night and day.”

Serena Spates, spokesperson for Riviera Beach, emphasized that the water is safe to drink and meets all current, federal and state water quality standards.

“Our top priority at the Utility Services Department (USD) is to ensure safe, high-quality drinking water for all Riviera Beach residents,” Spates said.

Walker said he did submit maintenance requests to the water plant’s supervisor operators and superintendent, but he said those requests were escalated and no work was performed. WPTV reported that the water plant superintendent resigned Wednesday, but the city did not say whether his resignation was voluntary or in lieu of resignation.

Riviera Beach

The manager of the Riviera Beach Water Plant resigns due to utility problems

Records show the city has hired $1.2 million in outside contractors to install equipment to address “the significant backlog of maintenance work for the water treatment and distribution systems,” along with other services.

In September, City Manager Jonathan Evans acknowledged that the city was already own equipment to solve some problems with their water, but it was never installed. He said previous leaders tried to sell the equipment.

“There was a desire on the part of the previous leadership not to take advantage of that, from the standpoint that we would invariably try to sell those items on the open market,” Evans said in September.

LACK OF COMPLAINTS

A spokesperson for Riviera Beach said there is no documentation, complaints or communication from Walker about unsafe working conditions in an email.

Walker said workers aren’t complaining about the conditions because they fear losing their jobs in his complaint to the health department.

A report from one Independent investigations revealed a culture of favoritism and retaliation existing within the Riviera Beach staff. The city government said it was negligent after receiving several complaints from employees.