Public Works Director Robert Rivera proposed a water quality testing project on Tuesday night for the Cotee River. City Council voted unanimously to approve a $50,000 bid for Shroud Engineering Consultants, Inc. to undertake the testing. The testing will last into October 2015.

“We want to hit all the seasons,” Mr. Rivera said, “the rainy season which will create a lot of flushing back and forth with water… [and] Spring time is when the pesticides and fertilizers are applied.”

Councilman Bill Phillips wanted to be sure that the survey would pinpoint any septic tank leaks or problems with the water itself. Mr. Rivera assured him that was true.

“[The testing will] identify what type of point source pollution is entering into the river,” Mr. Rivera said, “and once those types are identified then they are added into water quality improvements in future projects.”

This type of testing would give New Port Richey leaders a better idea of how to proceed in limiting pollution to the river as well as leading to additional options for funding for cleanup projects.

In other news, Council members also voted to approve Mr. Rivera’s request for the replacement of an 8″ water main north of Marine Parkway in New Port Richey. Mr. Rivera said that he believed the original pipe was beyond repair. The repair could cost as much as $172,552.50. Mr. Rivera said that he did not believe that the repair represented anything out of the usual. “Sometimes these things happen more quickly before we can [combine] it into a large project,” he said, “In cases like this we take care of it immediately with a repair such as this.”

by Jon Tietz