Wastewater Piped Into Fla. Homes

(CBS/AP)  It appears a few Florida families may have been getting some unwanted extras in their water.

Utility workers in Cape Coral admit hooking four homes up to the city's dual irrigation system, containing treated wastewater instead of its purified drinking water.

One family used the substandard water for more than three months. Two other homes were hooked up about a month ago, and a fourth was vacant.

According to the city of Cape Coral's Web site, the dual-water irrigation system uses rescued water, supplemented with canal water, for lawn irrigation. "Rescued water" is reclaimed water that is treated and recycled through irrigation service lines. During the city's dry season, the city does not produce enough rescued water, so canal water is used as additional supply.

According to an article in the The (Ft. Myers) News-Press, the irrigation or "reuse" water comes from residential sinks and toilets, and is treated biologically at one of the city's wastewater plants before being routed back to a resident's lawn irrigation system.

The city's drinking water comes from wells and is treated by a reverse osmosis process.

The city manager, Terry Stewart, told The News-Press that the problem occurred when city workers installed the potable water meters on the dual water lines. The different pipes are distinguished with tape on the potable lines, but workers in the four cases neglected to dig far enough to expose the tape and tapped the wrong lines.

Although the lines have been fixed, there are health concerns. The wastewater is filtered and treated with chlorine, but that does not eliminate parasites that can cause gastrointestinal problems, such as vomiting and diarrhea, public health director of Lee County, Dr. Judith Hartner, told The News-Press.

One homeowner says he's "livid." Stewart says the best his city can do now is "make it right."