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

The Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County is investigating the Riviera Beach Special Utility District for violation of state or federal laws related to water quality.

The documents show that the state agency has opened another investigation – the fourth within 12 months — in the employee’s complaint about unsafe conditions after he wrote about employees suffering burns from airborne caustic lime dust.

“Lime scum is constantly flowing and needs cleaning and it gets splashed all over us when we’re cleaning up the mess,” Robert Walker, a former Riviera Beach employee, said in his complaint to the health department. “We have chemical lime burns on our skin all the time. We are breathing lime dust because the vacuum system to capture dust from the air is non-existent.”

Robert Walker

Robert Walker

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

“Workers deserve a clean work environment and they shouldn’t be covering themselves with lime and having chemical burns on their skin and breathing in lime dust,” Walker said. “… Burns. They just deserve better than that.”

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

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

MAINTENANCE PROBLEMS

Walker said the plant’s lack of maintenance puts public safety at risk. He said the “lime room” problem is a pattern throughout the plant. He said in one instance that water basins in the southern part of the city are rusting.

“Tetanus grows 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 the city’s well caps. He said those cracks allow animal waste to enter the water system, but the repair never took place.

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

City officials pointed out 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 that he sees other utility districts completing regularly.

In October 2023 EPA inspection found that the system does not keep track of the maintenance performed.

Robert Walker

“Other districts, when they need things done, like maintenance, they do it,” he said. “It’s amazing. It’s like day and night.”

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

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

Walker said he made maintenance requests to the main operators and superintendent of the water plant, but said those requests were taken upstairs and no work was done. WPTV reported that the water plant manager resigned Wednesday, but the city did not say whether his resignation was voluntary or in lieu of termination.

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

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

“There was a desire by previous management not to use that from a standpoint to invariably try to sell those items on the open market,” Evans said in September.

NO COMPLAINTS

A Riviera Beach spokesman said there was no record of documentation, complaints or communication from Walker about unsafe working conditions in an email.

Walker said the employees are not complaining about the conditions because they fear losing their jobs in his complaint to the health department.

A report from a independent investigations found a culture of favoritism and retaliation existing within the Riviera Beach staff. He said the city administration was negligent after receiving various complaints from employees.