Neighborhood Is Left High And Dry
By
KENNETH KNIGHT, The Tampa Tribune
Published: March 5, 2008
TEMPLE CREST - Jane Lundh stands in her backyard, watching a drill
churn deep into the soil, nibbling through rock and dirt in search
of water.
Lundh and her family are having a ground well dug behind their
yellow-painted house overlooking the Hillsborough River.
They
would prefer not to replace the current one, but with the Tampa Bay
area in the midst of a drought and home renovations planned, they
are afraid to take chances. The cost to hook up to the city's water
supply - more than $100,000 - is out of the question.
The
pastoral setting where Lundh lives with her husband, Tom Arnold, and
sons Elton and Paul is on Riverhills Drive in Tampa, just two blocks
from Temple Terrace.
But
neither city has a line to supply water to residents who live along
a segment of Riverhills Drive between 46th and 50th streets.
All
of the families depend on ground wells for drinking water, to bathe,
to clean dishes and wash clothes.
"We
live on a four-block stretch without a water main and no hydrant,"
Lundh said, expressing concerns about safety and property loss
should a fire occur.
Riverhills Drive homeowners have petitioned the city for years to
install a water main on their street between 46th and 50th streets.
Who picks up the cost to extend the pipeline has been the
deal-breaker.
The
Tampa Water Department serves a 211-square-mile area with a service
population of about 645,000 people. The city permits residents in
the water department's service area the option of having a private
well or hookup to city pipelines.
Since moving to 4820 Riverhills Drive in 1999, Lundh has seen newer
communities in the city develop and flourish, but little has changed
where she lives. She wonders whether city leaders care.
"They talk about making the city equitable," Lundh said. "I hear
about recycled water going in on Davis Islands."
She
expressed regret that the city has failed to supply her neighborhood
with basic service: no water or sidewalks.
"I
love the neighborhood," Lundh said. "It's convenient to everything,
but I don't have the options that everyone else in the city has."
Lundh and Arnold have hired Tampa Well Drilling to install a
4-inch-diameter well to improve water pressure to the house. She
would not say how much it will cost. Tampa Well Drilling charges
$4,500 or more for a residential well.
Lundh said her well ran dry during the drought a few years ago.
"There were times of the day when I couldn't get nothing," she said.
Cost
is the big issue for the city.
Tampa Water Department officials estimate it would cost more than
$160,000 to extend a water main down the four-block stretch of
Riverhills. City water department spokesman Elias Franco said
signing up all 38 property owners along the affected portion of
Riverhills Drive would be the most economical approach.
Franco said a request from an individual homeowner would depend on
how far he lives from an existing water main, but the price tag
could run more than $100,000.
Temple Crest Civic Association President Terry Neal, who lives in
the affected area, has complained about the lack of city water for
years.
Neal
has a private well and has no plans to get rid of it, but that's not
the point, Neal said.
"We
want to have the option like everybody else," Neal said.
Reporter Kenneth Knight can be reached at (813) 865-4842or kknight@tampatrib.com. |
Civic
Association