With one in five aging septic systems on Vero’s barrier island failing inspection during a recent enforcement effort to make septic system owners comply with city code, Vero Beach Mayor Robbie Brackett wants to tighten the timeframe for the next round of inspections.
Instead of requiring inspections every five years, Brackett told his fellow council members he thinks a three-year inspection interval would help detect failing systems before they can damage the health of the Indian River Lagoon.
“Those septic systems are not getting any younger,” Brackett said. Vero Beach has nearly 1,300 septic systems, with two thirds of those on the barrier island.
Enforcing the Dec. 31, 2020 deadline for island septic systems to be inspected and pumped out has created a backlog of people waiting to be hooked up to sewer lines via a Septic Tank Effluent Pump system commonly called the STEP system — an action that’s required when a septic system fails inspection and is determined to be creating a hazard.
Runoff from septic tanks is one of the major sources of nutrients that alter water chemistry, contributing to algae blooms and making it tougher for wildlife and sea grass to thrive.
Peter Barile, PhD, a Melbourne-based researcher who serves as science director for the American Waterways Project characterized septic tank effluent runoff an “important source” of Indian River County’s nutrient load that ends up in the lagoon.
When municipal utility systems used to dump waste into the lagoon, septic systems accounted for a smaller percentage of the total nutrient load. The banning of that practice, coupled with fertilizer ordinances and improved stormwater management practices have moved septic systems way up on the list of offenders when it comes to nutrient runoff into the estuary, Barile wrote in his report.
Though the expansion of sewer service by the county and the use of STEP systems in Vero city limits had made a dent in the problem, 53 percent of the residences countywide still had septic systems in 2018.
Seeing that tighter septic inspection requirements would likely be approved by the city council, based on council members comments of concern about the lagoon, Brackett asked the city staff to come back with a draft ordinance change at an upcoming council meeting.
