MARK SCHUMANN

With Gov. Rick Scott apparently willing to clear the way for Vero Beach to install a hybrid septic system, the City Council yesterday asked Water and Sewer Utility Director Rob Bolton to propose a pilot project involving a dozen or so homes on the barrier island.

Known as a (STEP) system, the hybrid system uses a septic tank effluent pump to connect septic tanks to the wage water treatment plant.  According to Bolton, there are 2,962 septic tanks in the Vero Beach city service area creating the equivalent of .74 million gallons daily of wastewater, some of which is believed to be seeping into the Indian River Lagoon.  The closer septic tanks are to surface water and to the Lagoon the more likely they are to be polluting the fragile and ailing estuary.

Mayor Richard Winger said yesterday the Council should be prepared to offer financial incentives to the homeowners who will be asked to participate in the initial “demonstration project.”  He said homeowners with septic tanks near the Lagoon need to be shown the (STEP) system works and make a difference in saving the Lagoon.

See:  Is it time for septic tanks to go?