On July 14, 2017, the City of Riviera Beach Utility District (CRBUD) contracted Globaltech, Inc. (Globaltech) to install a new gear drive system and to perform an inspection of the water treatment plant's (WTP) north lime softener (Softener 3) which had not been in service for some time prior. Upon inspection of the softener, Globaltech found evidence of significant structural problem is related to corrosion and loss of metal in critical areas of the softener. Globaltech recommended that the softener be rehabilitated to the tune of an estimated $1 Million at the time, to address these structural problems, prior to the installation of the gear drive system. The recommended repairs were never performed at the time of Globaltech's recommendation and Softener 3 continues to remain out of service from that point until today.

In addition to impacting the quality of treatment within the WTP, Softener 3 not being in service has taken away much need redundancy within the plant to allow for the taking offline and servicing of the WTP's remaining operational softening units (Softener 1 and Softener 2). In the past, servicing these units involved taking them offline and performing extensive welding to repair wall damage caused by thinning from operational wear and tear. There is evidence that these units are again critically in need of servicing to repair wall sections where the steel has become thin. If left unaddressed, there is a risk of failure of one or both of these softeners which would impact the WTP's ability to produce quality water and also pose a physical danger to WTP staff.