The City of Fort Lauderdale is notifying its customers that the City recently violated a treatment technique at the Fiveash Water Treatment Plant. Although this incident was not an emergency and poses no health risk at this time, as a customer, you have a right to know what happened and what Fort Lauderdale did to correct this situation.
The City of Fort Lauderdale, in consultation with the Florida Department of Health in Broward County, is issuing this Public Notification for the use of a non-certified calcium hypochlorite (HTH) product during the cleaning of water filters at the Fiveash Water Treatment Plant on April 25, 26, 28, and 29, 2016. The standard maintenance procedure was not followed and this sanitizer was inadvertently released into the drinking water.
What should I do?
This is not an emergency and poses no health risk at this time. Customers do not need to take any corrective actions or measures. There is nothing you need to do (i.e., boil water, use an alternate water supply such as bottled water, or take other corrective actions). If a situation arises where the water is no longer safe to drink, the City will notify you within 24 hours. If you have a severely compromised immune system (i.e., cancer, HIV/AIDS), have an infant, are pregnant, or are elderly, you may have been at increased risk and should seek advice from your health care provider about drinking this water.
What does this mean?
This is not an emergency. If it had been, you would have been notified within 24 hours. Tests taken during this same time period did not indicate any drinking water standards were violated; however, we cannot be completely sure that the quality of your water was not affected during that time.
What happened?
When City of Fort Lauderdale staff received complaints about the taste of the water, an investigation was launched. It was determined that the supplier of the HTH had not provided the NSF (third party certification) certified product as specified in the City’s contract. While the product used contains no known carcinogens, it did not meet NSF standards. On June 2, 2016, confirmation was received from the supplier that the HTH used did not have NSF certification and the Florida Department of Health in Broward County was notified on June 3, 2016.
What is the City of Fort Lauderdale doing to correct the situation?
The City has not used the product since April 29th and has suspended deliveries and use of this non-certified product.
The City of Fort Lauderdale currently meets all safe drinking water standards and consumers do not need to take action as a result of the incident. This notification is being issued to provide full transparency of the water treatment system and the City’s commitment to quality assurance.
Please note that this information pertains only to Tamarac residents who live east of State Road 7 / US 441, and receive their water from the City of Fort Lauderdale. For additional information please contact the City of Tamarac’s Senior Chemist, Gary Meyer, at (954) 597-3790.