Before septic tanks fail, more South Florida homes are switching to sewers

As South Florida faces sea-level rise, flooding and storm surge, officials are working to switch thousands of septic tanks across the region into sewer connections.

“Within a number of years they’re going to fail and that will be horrible,” Broward County Commissioner Steve Geller, who also is the chairman of the Water Advisory Board. And as more sewage seeps into the groundwater that “of course affects the safety of our drinking water,” he said.

Until now, Broward has eliminated 16,424 septic tanks, according to county officials. Many more adjustments are on the way.

A septic tank is a buried container built to receive and partially treat raw domestic sanitary wastewater, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Solids settle to the bottom of the tank while greases and lighter solids float to the top. The solids stay in the tank while the wastewater is discharged to a drainfield for treatment and dispersal.

But septic systems “were not originally designed with the assumption that groundwater levels would rise gradually over time, and as a result may not be functioning as they were originally designed,” said Dania Beach Deputy City Manager Candido Sosa‑Cruz.

In Dania Beach, a newly approved $9.5 million project will construct a sanitary sewer system in a neighborhood with 75 homes located along the banks of the Dania Cut-off Canal now served by septic tanks. The money will pay for the construction of a pipeline and lift stations to replace the septic tanks with high risks of failure due to sea level rise, flooding and storm surge.

County commissioners recently signed off on their portion, $4.75 million, and federal funds will pick up the other half.

“By connecting these 75 properties to a sanitary septic system and installing a new force main, this will help ensure the community is adapting critical/significant infrastructure as it relates to flooding and sea-level rise,” Sosa‑Cruz said.

Among Broward County Water and Wastewater Services septic elimination projects in the current budget: Another 2,170 of the remaining 2,415 septic tanks within the county service area of portions of Hollywood and Pembroke Pines will be eliminated. Construction is anticipated to begin in early 2025.

And in the county-controlled areas of Dania Beach, the county will be requesting funding for “two minor septic tank elimination projects.”

Even though Broward has eliminated many septic tanks, it has not been able to quantify the exact number of septic tanks that remain outside of county control, Geller said. That’s because while there are sewer lines set up, not everyone has made the connection because of the expense to homeowners, which could be in the thousands of dollars.

“But it’s a lot of people,” he said. Because the septic tank gets raw sewage and discharges it into the groundwater, “you don’t want poorly treated sewage entering the groundwater,” he said.

Miami-Dade: Shortage of labor and materials

There are 120,000 septic systems in Miami-Dade County, half of which are in the North Bay watershed. Most of the tanks the county labels as “persistent failure” are located along canals that drain into the North Bay.

Roy Coley, the Director of Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department, said there are “9,000 failing systems we’ve identified as our priority for replacement.”  Within five years, those 9,000 will be converted. In total, there are 11,000 septic tanks under conversion in some level of the process, whether design, planning, permitting or construction.

The homes with septic who are near canals that see a water quality problem are targeted first. That’s because the canals lead to the Biscayne Bay, which ultimately impacts everybody.

Why it can’t be done overnight: Money and labor.

“Anywhere we can get our hands on funding, we’re working on it,” Coley said. “We’re heavily reliant on grants.”

And there is “literally a shortage of contract labor out there and materials. When all of South Florida is trying to do the same thing, we’re competing for resources. That’s slows us down; we’re not moving as we would like to.”

He warns homeowners with failing septic tanks to be proactive: “Children shouldn’t play in their yards; (there’s a ) direct health consequence.”

‘Time and money’: Palm Beach County

In Palm Beach County, the Loxahatchee River District, which serves the municipalities of Jupiter, Tequesta, Juno Beach and the Jupiter Inlet Colony as well as unincorporated Palm Beach and Martin counties, has its eyes on conversions.

Thousands of homes already have been converted to sewers, but in rural areas, there are still “a couple thousand using septic systems,” said Executive Director D. Albrey Arrington.

“Ultimately, 100 years from now, every property will be sewered, it would be hard to imagine anything other than that,” he said. “But it cost time and money and resources to build sewers to places.”

In urban areas, “we are effectively done, except for a few remnant areas,” Arrington said. The district “leaves political wrangling to elected officials: ‘Are we going to build a sewer system in our watershed and if so when?'”

The purpose, he said, is for both human health and environmental.

“It truly matters,” he said of the efforts. “Water flows very freely underneath Florida continuously. And so if you have a septic system in your home, the water leaves your home, it’s the drugs you take, any pharmaceuticals, leaves your body into your toilet, personal care products, down your drain, into a (septic) tank.” That in turn flows into a drain field and percolates “into shallow ground water around your home.”

People with wells risk contamination to the drinking supply, and as contaminants get into the ground, it could “change characteristics of (the) ecosystem.”

In Palm Beach County, the Indian Hills neighborhood construction for 13 homes will be finished later this year. It’s located east of Federal Highway (U.S. 1) across from Jonathan Dickinson State Park and Jupiter Hills golf course.

Jupiter Farms and Palm Beach Country Estates — both rural areas where lot sizes are more than an acre — could be next, and for now fall in the “To Be Determined” category.

“There will be a meaningful amount of research and analysis to determine the best approach to ameliorating the potential impacts of septic effluent in these areas,” Arrington said.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash