Article published May 14, 2006
Leaky pipe mystery puzzling plumbers
Small holes are causing big headaches in Sarasota County. By CAROL E. LEE
carol.lee@heraldtribune.com SARASOTA COUNTY – Sarasota County is one of three places in the world to be plagued by pinhole- sized leaks in the copper piping of homes. And it's the only place that has yet to find a solution.
For years, researchers and experts working with the county have tried without success to solve the problem that has cost homeowners millions of dollars for repairs and countless hours of hassle.
The county's latest effort, a six-month test of adding a blend of corrosion inhibitors to the water, appears to be helping. But it is too early to tell, researchers have said.
“What Sarasota is experiencing is an epidemic,” said Dr. Marc Edwards, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute who has been researching copper pinhole leaks since 1991.
Most of the leaks are in parts of the county south of Clark Road, with large concentrations in Palmer Ranch and Venice. So far, all of the homes that have reported leaks have been using county water, said Verne Hall, utilities facilities manager for Sarasota County.
The fear of getting a leak has prompted hundreds of homeowners to pay up to $10,000 to have the copper water pipes in their homes replaced with plastic pipes, even before they have a problem.
Preventive repiping is saving homeowners money on repairs, but it could also be skewing the data on the prevalence of the county's leak problem.
“The pre-emptive replumbs are for the most part occurring in homes that would have been most likely to get leaks, so it's a major complication,” said Edwards, who was hired by the county as a consultant in 2002.
Sarasota County; the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.; and the South African town of Hermanus have had the worst reported cases of pinhole leaks, Edwards said.
In both Hermanus and Maryland, researchers concluded that the leaks were caused by something in the water. So in both places, they are treating the leaks with water additives that form a protective coating inside copper pipes.
In Sarasota, they're trying a blend of two corrosion inhibitors, polyphosphate and orthophosphate.
“We know it can be done,” Edwards said of reducing pinhole leaks. “But whether it can be done in Sarasota remains to be seen.”
Zeroing in on cause
The exact cause of pinhole leaks is unknown, and the residents of pinhole-stricken neighborhoods hear all kinds of guesses. Some say the leaks are caused by acidic soil. Or lightning strikes. Or faulty installation. Or bacteria in the water.
Edwards believes the problem is caused by something in the water. But solving it is not as simple as running a water sample through a piece of copper tubing and tracking the damage.
“In Sarasota, unfortunately, so many changes have been made in the last decade to improve the quantity and quality of the water that it's impossible to go in forensically and figure out the cause,” Edwards said.
His research team believes that the chloramine used in Sarasota's water supply could be a contributing factor.
Neither Hermanus nor Maryland had chloramine in their water supplies, he said.
A nationwide surge in copper pinhole leaks began about 12 years ago, after the Environmental Protection Agency changed its regulations for purifying drinking water. The changes included allowing the use of chloramine, a chlorine and ammonia blend, instead of chlorine.
Despite what the water does to copper pipes, Edwards and other researchers say it is safe to drink.
“This problem is not associated in any way, shape or form with unsafe water,” Edwards said. “These outbreaks are occurring in situations when changes in treatment have been made that make the water safer to drink.”
Holes in data
When some homeowners in Palmer Ranch first told county officials about the pinhole leaks about seven years ago, the county hesitated to get involved. It was seen as a national problem, probably not something a local government could do much about.
But since then, county officials have participated in national studies on pinhole leaks and have tried different approaches to curtailing them.
In the fall of 2003, the same corrosion inhibitor that was effective in Maryland, orthophosphate, was added to the county's water. But it didn't help.
Last September, the county began its six-month test of the orthophosphate-polyphosphate blend.
Researchers say a lack of historical data complicates interpreting the test's results.
Sarasota County only started seriously tracking incidences of pinhole leaks and repipings in November.
That makes it difficult to gauge trends over the years and to compare, for example, the number of leaks during the winter versus the summer months. The change in seasons could also be a factor in what appears to be a decrease in leaks over the past few months.
Pins and needles
Pinhole leaks have been draining the pockets of Sarasota County residents since 1999.
Bob and Sally Swithers paid several thousand dollars this week to have the home they bought a year ago in the Country Club of Sarasota repiped with plastic.
They had been without water for nearly three weeks, ever since a pipe in their laundry room sprung a leak.
“We turn it on for three minutes a day to get some water for the refrigerator, flush the toilets and take a cold shower,” said Bob Swithers. “It's better than camping, but not much.”
One of the county's greatest concentrations of pinhole leaks is in the Deer Creek section of Palmer Ranch, where at least 62 percent of homes have reported them. Residents there have spent up to $2 million total on repairs and repiping.
Many residents were initially reluctant to report them.
“They thought if they said they had leaks or had to replumb, it would hurt the value of their homes,” said Bill Morgan, a resident of Deer Creek who has made himself an expert on the topic.
Pinhole leaks are usually noticed when the house floods, when homeowners hear the sound of running water in the walls or when they see an unusually high water bill.
“I heard water running, and it wasn't like a leaky faucet. It was in the wall,” said Maureen Ferris, who lives in Deer Creek. Ferris got a leak in August, which plumbers fixed by jackhammering into the foundation beneath her living room floor.
She and her husband had to get on a three-month waiting list for the next available plumber.
“We kept our fingers crossed that we wouldn't have another leak, because it really did some damage,” said Ferris, whose experience wound up costing close to $10,000.
Some homeowners get leaks fixed, which costs anywhere from $500 to $700.
But there's always the likelihood of getting another one.
Certain insurance policies will cover leak repairs and some damage, but not repiping with plastic, which for now is a homeowner's best defense.
Completely replacing the pipes in a typical two-bathroom house usually costs $4,000 to $6,000.
After years of hearing stories about pinhole leaks, homeowners in some neighborhoods are almost coming to expect it.
“Most of them are sitting on pins and needles,” Morgan said. “It looks like you're definitely going to get a leak eventually.”
.