Contractor error triggers water-main hit, stop-work order and precautionary boil-water notice in Longwood

A contractor strike of a water main in the Pinion/Bears Court area drew urgent attention from the Longwood City Commission on May 4 after staff described the incident and the city's response.

City Manager (Watson) and Public Works Director Chad Smith reported that staff have been using ground-penetrating radar and utility locates to reduce utility strikes and exercised valves to limit outages. Despite those precautions, a contractor operating for Wow deviated from directions and struck a water main previously damaged in the same area. The contractor told the city the foreman instructed the crew to dig in the wrong place; the contractor later fired that foreman.

Staff said crews isolated the break and restored water within roughly 20–25 minutes but because of the incident the city issued a precautionary boil-water notice that could last up to 72 hours while tests are completed. Public Works said some neighborhood property restoration (sod, driveways) remains outstanding and that the contractor is performing repairs.

Commissioners pushed staff and the city attorney to explore stronger remedies: revoking the contractor's permit, requiring future permits to include letters of credit or bonds, recovering costs for staff time and lost water, and documenting damages. The city attorney said the statute does not authorize administrative fines in the same way as code-enforcement fines but affirmed the city can seek reimbursement for damages, revoke permits if permit conditions are violated, and require a letter-of-credit in future permits. The city manager and city attorney said they will pursue remedies and evaluate permit revocation and civil recovery options.

Commissioners emphasized resident inconvenience from repeated utility strikes and expressed support for decisive action to prevent recurrence.