With imminent doom threatening Fort Lauderdale’s drinking water system, repair crews grabbed hold of a tree limb and pulled a MacGyver last week to keep the city’s water flowing.
The damaged water pipe was hours away from completely cutting off the city’s water supply when crews implemented a truly back-to-nature solution — stuffing a log into a hole in the pipe to stop the water from gushing out.
The tree limb plugged the hole a contractor had drilled into the pipe. Once it was in place and strapped down, it and the pipe were encased in concrete.
“I thought they were very resourceful. They needed a quick fix,” Mayor Dean Trantalis said.
City officials were reluctant to say if the log was from a limb, branch or trunk.
“The contractor used a wooden plug from a tree,” city spokesman Chaz Adams said. Using wood for emergency repairs is common, he said.
Playing the role of MacGyver, the television hero with an unconventional approach to problem solving, was contractor David Mancini and Sons, which will do a permanent repair of the pipe and had the idea because of similar emergency repairs it had done in the past. Envirowaste made the temporary repair Thursday.
Deputy City Manager Rob Hernandez said when the wood interacts with water, it “swells up, forming a plug like a cork.”
It was a situation that could have left less experienced workers stumped.
“The pipe was in good condition other than the area around the hole,” Adams said. “Once the wooden plug was in place, straps were wrapped around the pipe and over the plug to secure it in place.”
