Article
and Video Courtesy of ABC Action News -- Tampa
By Marisela Burgos
Published
July 30, 2017
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Watch
VIDEO
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For more than 24 hours, the Habana Park Condominiums
did not have water.
The HOA president,
Peter Busto, blamed a leaking pipe that was found
underground near an entrance of the community for the
inconvenience. The community is located off Habana
Avenue in Tampa. Busto said they were forced to turn off
the water as early as Monday morning.
“We had to turn it off. We were wasting gallons and
gallons (of water),” Busto said.
According to the HOA president, the community has 140
units; he added many of the people, who live in the
community, are elderly. |
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“They’re calling us….where’s the water? We don’t have no water. How are
we going to flush our toilets? How are we going to bathe? How are we
going to cook,” Busto said.
Amanda Candileri said it was
frustrating not having water for more than 24 hours.
“Try getting up in the morning to get ready for work and
there is no water,” Candileri said.
Busto said he was upset they had to hire a company to fix
the leak. He wanted the city to repair it. He blames
construction from a decade ago for their issue the past two
days. He said they are spending thousands of dollars on the
repair. |
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“They said today we’ll come out and look at it and
see what’s going on. As soon as he came, he said it’s on your property.
I said, but you all put the pipe that’s not ours….I’ve lived here 37
years that pipe wasn’t here when I moved here,” Busto said.
The city confirmed someone from their water department responded to the
community.
The city added any maintenance and pipe repairs owned by customers are
the customers’ responsibility. They stated in an email they will help as
much as they can in cases like this, but ultimately “we cannot assume
the customers’ responsibility.”
Regardless, Candileri said she is glad the leak was fixed by the
company. Their water was restored Tuesday evening.
“I hope that this is it. We’re fixed and good to go,” Candileri said.
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