Dear Pluris Wedgefield Customer,

As the result of Orange County doing road and curb repair in the community, Pluris experienced a water main break this past Monday, March 17, 2025, that caused outages to customers in the community. There have been a number of customers raising the issue and Pluris is providing the following information regarding the water main break. Pluris personnel were alerted by its water treatment plant SCADA at 10:35 am of very high water use in excess of 3,000 gallons per minute. Pluris staff immediately began canvasing the service area to locate the water main break. Orange County personnel called Pluris’s customer care service phone line at 10:47 am to report they had broken a main water line at the area of 20249 Macon Parkway. Pluris personnel arrived at the water main break site at 10:50 am to assess the damage and to begin shutting main water valves to isolate the water main break. Shutoff was completed at 11:15 am and the water main break repair was finished by 1:55 pm.

Precautionary boil water notices were hung on the doors of all affected customers by 2:15 pm. The affected water main lines were flushed and water service restored at 2:45 pm.

As required by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (“FDEP”) Pluris collected the first of 2 consecutive day(s) of bacteriological samples at 3:45 pm. As required, the FDEP was formally notified in writing. Pluris collected the second of 2 consecutive day(s) of bacteriological samples on 3-18-2025 at 7:45 am.

Pluris will advise customer(s) when the precautionary boil water notice has been lifted.

Although the water outage was caused by the County, Pluris apologizes for the inconvenience to customers and has worked diligently to restore service as soon as possible.

The event could have been avoided. State law (Florida Statutes, s. 556.105 (9)(c)) requires that any person conducting underground excavation work, call 811 a minimum of 2 days prior to any excavation to have 811 provide locate services. There is no record that Orange County or its subcontractors notified 811 to have locate services provided.

Sarasota County receives its potable (“drinking”) water from the Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority and Pluris South Gate (“Pluris”) customers receive water from Sarasota County. At the request of the Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority, Sarasota County, and Pluris will temporarily change the disinfection process for the drinking water supply.

Beginning on April 22, 2025 through May 6, 2025 the water will be disinfected with free chlorine rather than the current treatment using chlorine combined with ammonia (“chloramines”). This planned temporary conversion allows Sarasota County and Pluris to perform a cleaning of the water distribution system as recommended by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for water utilities using chloramines as their primary disinfectant for maintenance purposes.

A “free chlorine conversion,” as it is known, is a common practice by public water systems that use chloramines to periodically increase the disinfectant level throughout the distribution system. The conversion allows the water system to perform the required maintenance.

Sarasota County, has stated the following in their announcement to their customers and Pluris is providing the same statements to our customers.

• The water will meet all federal and state standards for drinking water and will REMAIN SAFE TO DRINK throughout this process and boiling water is not necessary.
• Customers may notice a change to the taste and smell of the water and discoloration. Homeowners should flush any cloudy or discolored water that may enter the plumbing by running a faucet for several minutes or until the water runs clear. Customers should check for discolored water before adding clothes to their washing machine.
• Customers on kidney dialysis who use a proportioning machine to prepare dialysate at home are advised to contact their physician or equipment supplier to obtain the appropriate steps to accommodate the change in water disinfection and to install the proper filtering devices, if needed.
• Customers using the water for aquariums should monitor the chlorine residuals and are advised to contact a professional aquarist to ensure proper pretreatment of the water before adding or changing the water in the tank to avoid any problems associated with the addition of free chlorine.

Sarasota County and Pluris will flush the water distribution systems in conjunction with this change in the process. The flush will allow the free chlorine to move quickly throughout the distribution system.

For further information regarding regulatory compliance of the chlorine conversion, please contact the State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection South District Office by contacting Brooke Keck at [email protected] or by telephone at (239) 344-5660; or Matthew Miller at the Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County at [email protected]. or by telephone at (941) 861-3315.

You may also call Pluris Customer Care Call Center at (888) 758-7471 for any questions.