WATER PIPELINES = URBANIZATION = SKYSCRAPERS

WATER PIPELINES = CHLORINATED WATER = CARCINOGENS

WATER PIPELINES = EXCESSIVE AQUIFER PUMPING

WATER PIPELINES = DEPENDENCY =  MONOPOLY PRICING

THE PINECREST WATER PROJECT AND DADE COUNTY'S "MANDATORY CONNECTION MANDATE" ARE BOTH BASED ON A FRAUD.  LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES CLAIM THAT COUNTY WATER IS A "SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM" BUT WELL WATER IN PINECREST IS SUPERIOR TO COUNTY WATER.  LOTS OF SCARE TACTICS HAVE BEEN USED TO DECEIVE THE PUBLIC BUT THESE FALSE CLAIMS (CONTAMINATION, FIRE HAZARDS, ETC.)  ARE EASILY DISPROVED.  AT THE END OF THE DAY, COUNTY WATER IS NOT ABOUT HEALTH & SAFETY.  IT'S ABOUT FUTURE CONTROL AND URBANIZATION.  HERE ARE TEN THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT COUNTY WATER AND FORCED CONNECTION TO THE WASD:

1)      ALMOST NOBODY DRINKS COUNTY (MDWASD) WATER IN PINECREST (Ask the manager at Milam’s or Publix about bottled water sales).  COUNTY WATER COMES PRIMARILY FROM WELLS BUT THE DISTRIBUTION AND TREATMENT PROCESS TOXIFIES THE WATER (Watch the movie "Dark Waters" to learn about PFAS).  THE MIAMI-DADE MUNICIPAL WATER SYSTEM (MDWASD) IS #3 IN THE COUNTRY IN TOXIC PFAS LEVELS (Source: January 23, 2020 Miami Herald article).  COUNTY WATER ALSO CONTAINS NUMEROUS CARCINOGENS SUCH AS CHLORINE, CHLORAMINE, FLOURIDE, ETC. (Source: Johns Hopkins Research Study).

2)      27 STATES DO NOT ALLOW FORCED ("MANDATORY") CONNECTION TO A PUBLIC WATER UTILITY AND MOST OTHER STATES LIMIT THE PRACTICE (Source: “An Analysis of Mandatory Hookup Law: Cases & Statutes,” Water Systems Council, January 2019).  THE VILLAGE OF PINECREST MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF TWO STATE STATUTES RELATING TO FORCED WATER CONNECTION (Chapters 180.02 & 373.309) AND THREE STATE STATUTES RELATING TO SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS (Chapters 170.01, 170.03 & 197.3632).

3)      MOST PINECREST HOMEOWNERS WITH WELLS DO NOT WANT COUNTY WATER.  76.4% OF PINECREST HOMEOWNERS (600 PROPERTIES) DID NOT CONNECT TO THE LAST MAJOR WATER PIPELINE EXTENSION / MAINS INSTALLED FROM 2008-2011 (Source: Village of Pinecrest).  THEY ARE NOW RECEIVING THREATENING LETTERS FROM DERM ORDERING THEM TO CONNECT.  BUT THESE DERM LETTERS ARE AMBIGUOUS AS TO WHY PEOPLE NEED TO CONNECT.  THERE “MAY BE” CONTAMINATION IN PINECREST.

4)      IT IS A MYTH THAT PINECREST WELL WATER IS CONTAMINATED.  ONLY 18 WELLS ON THE LIST CITED BY COMMISSIONER REGALADO AT THE MAY 11, 2021 COUNCIL MEETING ACTUALLY TESTED POSITIVE FOR CONTAMINATION IN THE PAST (NOT 33 AS SHE CLAIMED).    AND WHEN DERM, DOH, FDEP AND PINECREST PUBLIC WORKS WERE ASKED ABOUT THE STATUS OF THESE 18 “CONTAMINATED” WELLS, THEY SAID THAT THE CONTAMINATION ISSUES “HAD BEEN FIXED.” 16 OF THESE WELLS SHOWED TRACES OF DIELDRIN, A PESTICIDE USED TO CONTROL TERMITES (THERE WERE ONLY TWO ARSENIC CASES – PROBABLY STEMMING FROM EXCESSIVE FERTILIZER USE). MOREOVER, MOST OF THESE CONTAMINATED WELLS WERE CLUSTERED ON JUST TWO STREETS NEAR LUDLAM ROAD (92ND STREET AND 102ND STREET).  IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THERE ARE PROBABLY MORE THAN 5,000 WELLS IN PINECREST.

5)      THE PINECREST GROUNDWATER MONITORING WELLS DO NOT INDICATE CONTAMINATION.  THE REPORT DATED MAY 5, 2021 CONCLUDED “THE TESTED PARAMETERS DID NOT EXCEED THE GROUNDWATER CLEANUP TARGET LEVELS (GCTL’S) PROMULGATED IN CHAPTER 24-44 OF THE MIAMI-DADE CODE, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A CHLORIDE EXCEEDANCE IN MW4-70 AND NITRITE EXCEEDANCE IN MW3-30.”   IT CONTINUED “CHLORIDE CONCENTRATIONS ACROSS ALL WELLS SAMPLED IN APRIL 2021 ARE SIMILAR FROM THE PREVIOUS SAMPLING EVENTS (2018) WITH THE EXCEPTION OF MW2-30, MW2-50 AND MW3-70 WHERE A SLIGHTLY LOWER CONCENTRATION WAS DETECTED.  IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE TEST WELL WITH INCREASED SALINITY IS RIGHT NEXT TO A SALT WALTER CANAL (SNAPPER CREEK).

6)      IT IS A MYTH THAT A FIRE HAZARD EXISTS IN PINECREST.  THERE ARE CURRENTLY ABOUT 600 FIRE HYDRANTS AND ABOUT 700 BLOCKS IN PINECREST. THAT’S ABOUT ONE FIRE HYDRANT PER BLOCK IN A SUBURBAN NEIGHBORHOOD WITH A MINIMAL HISTORY OF FIRES (THE LAST KNOWN HOUSE FIRE WAS IN AUGUST 2015 AT LUDLAM & 94TH STREET).  AND THE FIRE CHIEF SAID AT THE MAY 11, 2021 COUNCIL MEETING THAT “HE HAS ALL OF THE RESOURCES HE NEEDS TO FIGHT ANY FIRE IN PINECREST.”  

7)      THE “PINECREST H20 PAC” (CHERI BALL) AND “PINECREST WATER CONNECT PAC” (SANDY BALDA) DO NOT REPRESENT THE MAJORITY OF THE 1,300 HOMEOWNERS WITHOUT COUNTY WATER.  THE FIFTY PRO-COUNTY-WATER SPEAKERS AT THE MAY 11, 2021 COUNCIL MEETING WERE MOSTLY MEMBERS OF THE H20 PAC AND HAVE HAD MORE THAN TWO YEARS TO ORGANIZE.  HOWEVER, OVER 200 HOMEOWNERS HAVE SIGNED THE ONLINE PETITION AGAINST THE PINECREST WATER PROJECT.  BUT THE ONLY OBJECTIVE WAY TO KNOW WHO IS ACTUALLY FOR/AGAINST THIS PROJECT IS TO HAVE ANOTHER REFERENDUM OR A SURVEY.  

8)      AS OF MAY 19, 2021, A PLAN TO DISTRIBUTE THE $8 MILLION IN ARP FUNDS TO PINECREST TO PARTIALLY SUBSIDIZE THE WATER PROJECT HAS “NOT BEEN FINALIZED” (Source: Daniel Wall, Miami-Dade County Office of Management & Budget). 

9)      THERE IS NO URGENCY TO SPEND THE $8 MILLION IN ARP FUNDS.  MUNICIPALITIES WILL HAVE THREE YEARS TO USE THEM ONCE THEY ARE DISTRIBUTED (UNTIL AT LEAST LATE 2024).  “H&R PAVING” IS THE CURRENT CONTRACTOR IN PLACE FOR THIS PROJECT BUT THERE IS PLENTY OF TIME TO RE-BID IF NECESSARY (Has Raul Gonzalez done a pipeline project before?).  SOUTH FLORIDA HAS ONE OF THE HIGHEST CONCENTRATIONS OF PIPELINE CONTRACTORS IN THE COUNTRY. (Source: Village of Pinecrest).

10)   THE 2019 WATER BOND WAS VOTED DOWN BY REFERENDUM (63% TO 37%) (Nine out of ten districts voted against it).

PLEASE CONTACT GOVERNOR DESANTIS AND TELL HIM THAT FORCED CONNECTION TO A PUBLIC WATER UTILITY SHOULD BE ILLEGAL.  HERE IS HIS CONTACT INFORMATION:

Office of Governor Ron DeSantis

State of Florida

The Capitol

400 S. Monroe St.

Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

Phone: (850) 717-9337

E-mail:  james.uthmeier@eog.myflorida.com (Governor's Chief of Staff)

STATE LEGISLATORS TO CONTACT:

1) Senator Jason Brodeur | brodeur.jason@flsenate.gov 

2) Senator Manny Diaz | diaz.manny@flseante.gov  

3) Senator Ileana Garcia | garcia.ileana@flsenate.gov

4) Senator Joe Gruters | gruters.joe@flsenate.gov 

5) Senator Travis Hutson | hutson.travis@flsenate.gov 

6) Senator Keith Perry | perry.keith@flsenate.gov