Toho Water Authority's lab to close for mold removal

January 24, 2007

Orlando Sentinel - Orlando,FL

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Osceola County -- It will cost the Toho Water Authority about

$300,000 to hire a contractor to rid the utility's lab of mold,

according to its executive director.

The work will take nearly two months. During that time, tests

performed by the state-certified lab will have to be outsourced,

Wheeler, the authority's executive director, said this week.

Wheeler said the contractor will have to work under a strict

timeline so that the lab can be operational for its annual state

certification in April.

Originally, staff had an estimate of $500,000 for the mold-removal

work. But TWA board members thought that was too much money to clean

up the 2,500-square-foot lab and they suggested getting more bids --

even though there wasn't much time to get the work started.

Much of the lab's equipment will be stored in climate-controlled

containers while the work is done, Wheeler said. Lab staff will be

assigned other duties, Wheeler said, including extra paperwork

required by the state when the tests are outsourced.

The lab performs bacteriological testing on the water system, and it

makes sure that wastewater hits certain benchmarks mandated by

regulatory agencies.

TWA also faces work to clear mold out of an operations building at

the same facility off Young Parkway. But the work hasn't been

bid out, though staff has already been moved out of the structure,

Wheeler said.

Mark Pino, Amy L. and Daphne Sashin of the Sentinel staff

contributed to this report.

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