Cracking down on several thousand septic tanks suspected of polluting the St. Lucie River is not a top priority in the upcoming year for the Port St. Lucie City Council.
A divided council rejected a proposal to spend $8 million in the next decade to finance 150 additional sewer system connections annually because of the costs to the city and homeowners. The council also rejected a proposed septic system evaluation program that would have required homeowners to have their systems inspected every five years at an estimated cost of $625.
Pollution from septic tanks leaching into the St. Lucie River is among the contributors to periodic toxic algal blooms that threaten public health in St. Lucie and Martin counties. Other factors include agricultural and urban runoff, and discharges of polluted Lake Okeechobee water into the estuary.
But the city faces bigger priorities than the septic conversion program, such as maintaining staffing and services as the city undergoes another growth boom, said Vice Mayor Shannon Martin.
“Unfortunately, it seems to be extremely cost prohibitive,” Martin said about the septic to sewer proposals. “We have a lot of other, in my opinion, bigger priorities to keep up the needs of our city and future growth.”
Instead of undertaking any new measures, the council decided last Wednesday to continue the existing program for encouraging homeowners on septic systems to connect to the city’s sewer utility.
“I just want to point out that this is a complete reversal of the council’s last discussion and that’s really disappointing to me,” lamented Mayor Greg Oravec. “It’s something I’m not going to be able to just accept and move on.”
“There are several months every year where you can’t touch the river,” Oravec said.
“You’re advised by the Department of Health not to touch it because it’s unsafe to touch.”
Waterway testing for septic-related pollution found hotspots of contamination in the Monterey, Elcam and Sagamore drainage basins, city records show.
Since the Sagamore basin has just 253 septic tanks, Oravec suggested using that area for a pilot program for a mandatory sewer connection program.
An average of 350 homeowners per year convert from septic systems to city sewer service, most with the benefit of 10-year, interest-free financing of the $5,757 connection cost.
Homeowners typically end up with a monthly utility bill of $135.71 – $47.98 to repay the connection loan and $87.73 for water and sewer service, city records show.
There were 15,545 septic systems in Port St. Lucie as of the end of June, said Assistant Utilities Director Donna Rhoden. That includes 4,695 within 50 feet of a waterway leading to the St. Lucie River and 3,258 near a waterway with a high level of sewage-related pollution.
At the current pace, it would take more than 40 years to eliminate all the septic systems in the city.
Martin and Councilman John Carvelli said they oppose requiring homeowners on septic systems to connect to the city sewer system or pay for an inspection every five years.
“We have to be careful. This is Port St. Lucie. We don’t want to price our citizens out of our housing market,” Carvelli said.
Carvelli and Martin said they want to wait for the state Legislature to address water-quality issues, including mandating septic system inspections and providing money for septic conversions.
“We need to go back to the Legislature and seek some septic to sewer conversion money and explain the dire need to do it here in the city,” Carvelli said.
Carvelli and Martin said they also want to see the results of the next round of waterway testing for septic-related contaminants to see if pollution hotspots have shifted.
Councilwoman Jolien Caraballo argued in favor of the septic system inspections so the city can identify the poorly performing systems and problematic neighborhoods.
“I’m still passionate about the inspection piece,” Caraballo said. “If we have an area that’s really in trouble, then maybe we need to do inspections there and target the areas where we might have true issues.”
