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1. How to Report a Water Main Break or Sewer Back Up

All water main breaks and sewer backups are considered an emergency situation. If seen, please use the form: http://daniabeachfl.gov/FormCenter/Public-Services-4/Public-Services-Issues-Notification-Form-38 or call Public Services during work hours at 954-924-6808 or the Water Plant Office during non-working hours at 954-924-6808 x3747 or 954-924-3747. A repair crew will be dispatched. The plant operator will contact the employee on-call to check the site, confirm a main break, service leak or back up. Once this has been determined, a water or sewer crew will be dispatched. If it is a water main break or leak, the time the water is off will be affected by many factors, including weather conditions, location of main break, size of main, type of main break, depth of main, etc.. The crew will attempt to notify all affected customers and businesses. If necessary, we will issue a “Precautionary Boil Water Notice.” It is a notification that advises customers to boil tap water used for drinking, cooking, and ice-making until tests verify the water is safe to drink by the Broward County Health Department. You will be notified again when the “Boil Water Notice” is lifted. It is not necessary to boil water for showering or other external uses. This notice will outline the necessary steps to ensure safe water consumption. In addition, The City of Dania Beach will work to have services restored as soon as possible.

2. How to locate underground utility lines

Underground lines, both on and off your property, can be easily damaged by digging equipment. To ensure community safety, Underground Utilities Division provides locator services for our lines. You can contact the free line locate service at "CALL SUNSHINE" (Previously U.N.C.L.E.) at 800-432-4770 for your utilities locating services (also phone, cable TV, FPL, etc.)

3. How to get a new meter or get old meter repaired

To get a new meter or have a meter repaired contact the Utility Billing Department at 954-924-6800 x3401.
A malfunctioning meter does not usually cause large bills.
Typically, water meters do not run fast when malfunctioning. Rather, they will usually run slow when they start to fail.

4. Is the City responsible for the repair of your service?

The Public Services Department is responsible for maintaining the service up to and including the meter, which is generally near the property line. Any repairs required from the meter into a building are the responsibility of the owner.

5. Who is responsible for finding and fixing leaks in your water service?

The utility's responsibility ends at the meter; however we will try and help you locate problems on your side of the meter if you request it.

6. Source of The Dania Beach drinking water

The Biscayne Aquifer is the main source of water for the City of Dania Beach. The City has two wells that draw water from the Biscayne Aquifer from 60 feet below the surface. The Biscayne Aquifer water is very hard and has some color, so the City softens it in their water treatment plant before distributing it to your home. The City is in the process of looking for a new well site and will be installing back-up power in the event of outages or storms. The City also gets water from Broward County's regional well field to treat. This is also Biscayne Aquifer water and also requires softening and color reduction.

7. Dania Beach water is filtered and extensively tested for impurities

The Public Services Department maintains a testing program that exceeds state and federal regulations. We test for pesticides, heavy metals, bacteria, volatile organic compounds, etc. Testing is conducted at various locations within our system.

8. Bottled water is not necessarily safer or healthier to drink than tap water

The safety of bottled water and tap water initially depends on the source of the water. Monitoring and source protection, treatment and testing ultimately determine the quality of the finished product. For the first time, the 1996 Authorization of the Safe Drinking Water Act requires that bottled water be monitored and tested in the same rigorous manner that tap water has been subject to for years. Your tap water consistently meets drinking water standards, it is not necessary to use either bottled water or a home water treatment device to have safe water to drink. 50% of bottled water manufacturers get their water from the same sources as municipal water departments. Bottled water costs about 1,000 times more than tap water and most of that pays for product packaging and advertising. Because bottled water is not required to be date stamped, its quality can deteriorate over time. Any bacteria in the water at the time of bottling can continue to grow.
In recent years, the popularity of bottled water has increased dramatically. There are approximately 700 brands of bottled water sold in the United States alone. The most common kinds are spring water, mineral water, purified water, sparkling water, and well water. Considered a food product, bottled water is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), while tap water, a utility product, is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The re-authorized Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996 requires that the FDA establish regulations for bottled water equivalent to those for tap water.

9. Risks of using a home water treatment device

The EPA does not recommend home treatment devices as a substitute for public water treatment because of the difficulty in monitoring system performance. Home treatment devices are not tested or regulated by the federal government. Some, however, are tested by independent laboratories. If you want to use a water treatment device, carefully choose one according to the water conditions in your area. Also, be aware that a device needs to be properly maintained. If regular maintenance is not performed properly, water quality problems can actually result.

10. The Safe Drinking Water Act

In the early 1900's, states began to monitor and regulate water systems. Water professionals worked closely with researchers and health officials to develop standards to protect public health. In 1974, the federal government created uniform national requirements for public water supplies by passing the original Safe Drinking Water Act. It directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish standards and requirements to protect consumers from harmful contaminants in drinking water. In 1986, the SDWA was updated with additional regulations aimed at improving water quality. The 1996 re-authorization of the Safe Drinking Water Act strikes a balance among federal, state, local, urban, rural, large and small water system requirements that improve the protection of public health and bring reason and good science to the regulatory process.
One of the provisions of the newly updated Safe Drinking Water Act requires that the Food and Drug Administration establish regulations for bottled water. The law specifies that the regulations for bottled water are to be no less stringent than those issued for public water systems. It also requires EPA to study the feasibility of informing consumers of bottled water content.
The Safe Drinking Water Hot-line phone number is 800-426-4791, for more information about the SDWA, call the EPA toll-free Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

11. Standards for taste, odor and appearance

The City tests and monitors drinking water to meet two types of standards. The primary standards, called MCL's, are set to protect human health and the secondary standards concern aesthetic considerations such as taste, odor and appearance. Health and aesthetic aspects are the driving forces behind drinking water regulations.

12. What is "Hard" water?

Hard water is water high in minerals -- some of which are essential for health. However, laundry washed in hard water may not seem as clean. Water softeners may help, but because they add sodium, they should not be attached to water lines used for cooking or drinking. Note: bottled mineral water is extremely "hard." Dania Beach water is very soft.

13. There is no radon in the water.

In our lab testing, radon was non-detectable in our potable water.

14. Preparing tap water for fish tanks.

The Water Treatment Plant uses chlorine to disinfect the water. This is important so humans don't get waterborne diseases. Chloramines can be lethal to fish, so it's important to adequately de-chlorinate water before it's added to an aquarium.

15. What causes hair to turn green?

The most common cause of "green hair" is a chemical reaction that occurs when copper leaches into water from copper plumbing within your home, and these copper compounds react with blond hair. "Green hair" may also occur when blond hair has contact with the high chlorine dosages or copper sulfate used in pools and spas for algae control. Hair tints, dyes, and permanents can significantly alter the chemical structure of hair and cause it to react adversely with other chemicals such as chlorine. Using special shampoos designed for swimmers or for color-treated or permed hair may be helpful.