If you knew all along septic tank effluent, not fertilizer in Lake Okeechobee, was the primary estuary polluter in Martin County, go to the head of the class.
You are rare, brave if you shared your opinion and probably the victim of ridicule. But, now look: You've been vindicated. You were right.
In a locally televised County Commission meeting beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Martin folks will learn that Lake Okeechobee discharges and fertilizer in agricultural runoff are not the primary sources of pollution after all. They contribute, but even when there are no discharges, fecal contamination continues to pollute the St. Lucie River and Indian River lagoon.
Scientist Brian LaPointe is presenting the results of a study the county commissioned Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute to do.
“We confirmed that the areas with a high concentration of septic systems had nitrates and phosphates in the groundwater and in the ditches leading to the St. Lucie,” Lapointe has said. “Then we found that sewage is getting into the estuary and being taken by tides out to the reefs, where it’s causing a chain reaction that’s literally killing the reefs.”
LaPointe claims that along the 156-mile Indian River lagoon, septic systems dump more than 4.4 million pounds of nitrogen each year. Think of it: That's the weight, he says, of the space shuttle, fully loaded with its external tanks, solid rocket boosters, crew and cargo.
I admit, it's tempting to jump all over environmentalists who have been leading residents down a garden path, perpetuating the fertilizer-runoff-as-primary-pollutant myth. But I won't. Even though, God knows, I wrote about the scourge of septic tanks enough.
I would rather turn my attention to Sen. Joe "Hands Off Our Septic Tanks" Negron, R-Stuart, a community leader in Martin County, who two years ago might have widened the search in his taxpayer-funded pollution probe. Instead, he signed on with Team Crazy.
Let me back up a minute.
In 2010 the Legislature passed a landmark bill requiring septic tanks to undergo once-every-five-year inspections -- first time in Florida history such inspections would be instituted.
The bill was a GOP initiative, incidentally -- a "consensus bill on water policy which the agency involved, local government, environmentalists, business and industry support," said its author, Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs.
A good idea, wouldn't you think? In a state where more than half of its 2.6 million septic tanks are more than 30 years old, and 10 percent are estimated to be failing -- a state where the water table is usually just a couple of inches below your feet -- wouldn't you think of it as real progress?
Negron did not. It offended his sense of privacy. Actually, it offended a number of legislators; I only pick on Negron now because he represents Ground Zero for river pollution and was in a position to do something about septic tanks simply by embracing the inspection bill.
The controlling issue, he said, wasn't the possibility of raw sewage, sludge, and grease running off into the state's drinkable springs and aquifers. It was property rights. "Mr. and Mrs. Jones, 78 years old, live in a house with a 30- or 40-year-old septic tank," he said. "Do they have to let the government come inspect their septic tank?"
Well, no, they don't, not now. But they probably should. Faulty septic tanks can introduce nitrogen, phosphorus, organic matter, and bacterial and viral pathogens into the surrounding area, wells, and groundwater, says virtually every water engineer in Florida.
In November 2010, the Legislature called a special session and, with Negron on board, passed a new bill that would halt the septic-tank inspections. How am I sure Negron voted to repeal? Because in August 2013, in a telephone interview just before his Select Committee on Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee Basin meeting in Stuart, Negron confirmed to me he voted to repeal the state law requiring septic tank inspections, calling it undue government intrusion.
Believe it or not, as I wrote at the time, the inspections would have been run by a private contractor, and the state Department of Health estimated the annual cost of inspection at $122.40, including a pump-out.
I'm against undue government intrusion myself. But this intrusion is due. In the '90s, neighboring Port St. Lucie forced every homeowner and lot owner to build its central water and sewer system. It was a costly and bitterly painful process, but today, when septic tanks fail, PSL homeowners are required to hook up to the central system. Twenty years later, the vast majority of homes in the city are now on "city sewer."
I hope Sen. Negron, while continuing to focus on the Everglades, will reevaluate his laissez-faire attitude toward Florida's septic tanks.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
