CRESTVIEW — Ongoing fiber-reinforced stormwater drainage pipe failures in the Fox Valley subdivision have Public Works crews scrambling to repair damage before it worsens and threatens homes.
In March 2015, more than 350 feet of 24-inch diameter Hardie Pipe failed, causing storm water to undermine part of Territory Lane, threatening other buried utilities.
That repair cost taxpayers $34,000, Public Works Director Wayne Steele said.
In November 2011, $3,159 worth of repairs were needed to failing 18-inch pipe on Grey Fox Drive.
Now, two more sections, 162 feet of pipe on Foxchase Way and 388 feet of pipe on Swift Fox Run need repair, at a combined cost of more than $52,000.
THE WRONG PIPE
Steele said Hardie Pipe, which is no longer made in the United States, like Hardie Plank, is a composite material reinforced with fiber. It is now made and used only in Australia, he said.
“This type of pipe had not been tested and tried in all types of applications,” Steele said. “Even FDOT had made some recommendations to engineers on stormwater applications: Do not use this pipe.”
Fox Run’s developers used the pipe instead of reinforced concrete, corrugated metal or plastic pipe, Steele said.
“What's happening is this pipe is cracking laterally,” he said. “It is not designed to take the ground load pressure which in the state of Florida is extreme. This pipe here is failing.”
In a memo to the City Council, Steele said the city should never have accepted the developer’s use of Hardie Pipe, which doesn’t meet the city’s code of ordinance specifications.
HOPE FOR REIMBURSEMENT
Steele said he and city attorney Ben Holley have researched possible remedies for the city’s almost $90,000 in expenses to fix the leaking pipes.
“I haven't found a class-action lawsuit, but found the city of DeBary has received a release and settlement agreement in April 2014 from James Hardie Building Products,” Steele said.
“In the case of DeBary, the city put the pipe in,” Holley said. “In this case, the developer put the pipe in. It's going to take some ingenuity to find a way to go after it.”
“I don't want to give you false hope, but if they acknowledged failure and they made a settlement with one entity in our state, it gives us some hope,” Steele told the council at its April 11 meeting.
FIRST PRIORITY: REPAIR
Steele’s first priority, however, is fixing the current pipe failures, which will be done by inserting a liner in the Foxchase Way pipe, and injecting a cured-in-place liner in the Swift Fox Run pipe.
“If we don't fix it, it would negligence on our part,” Steele said.
Completely replacing the pipes would require excavation work that would completely block the street, ‘which would block most residents from their driveways for a number of days,” Steele stated in his council brief.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Failing fiber-composite pipe threatening more Fox Valley streets