DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. – The Department of Health in Duval County was awarded $549,000 in grants Monday by Florida's Department of Environmental Protection to improve the county’s septic tanks and continue the septic tank remediation project.
The projects include identifying older and faulty septic systems to be fixed or replaced. The DEP said the survey would help improve water quality in the St. Johns River and the streams that feed into it.
The grant was also for the continuation of projects to locate possible pollutants for 25 impaired bodies of water in the Lower St. Johns River Watershed.
Duval County Director of Environmental Health and Safety Scott Turner told News4Jax the health department was focusing efforts on septic systems while the city would work on converting septic systems to city sewers.
“It will also protect public health, due to finding sanitary nuisances,” Turner said. “If we find failing septic systems while we are performing our inspections, we can enforce the correction of that sanitary nuisance and get the septic system repaired.”
There are areas of Jacksonville where septic tanks leak into the ground, and those leaks find their way to the river. There’s an estimated 21,000 septic tanks in Jacksonville that are underground and 5 percent to 10 percent have leaks.
An I-TEAM investigation in September showed that sewage was being deposited into the St. Johns River, creating toxic algae blooms. In 2006, then-mayor John Peyton signed legislation called the River Accord, setting out to replace some of the 21,000 septic tanks with connections to city sewer services. The $700 million agreement targeted outdated wastewater treatment plants and focused on making the best use of reclaimed water.
City Council President Lori Boyer said the $200 million over a decade that the state of Florida allotted toward the River Accord was withdrawn when the recession hit in 2008. In turn, Jacksonville lawmakers decided to spend money on other projects instead.
With new funding in tow, DEP deputy secretary for ecosystems restoration Drew Bartlett praised the new efforts to update septic tanks across the state.
"We are pleased to partner with the Florida Department of Health on these septic inventory updates, maintenance and management projects throughout the state," Bartlett said. "It is important for state agencies to come together to reduce pollution and help protect the water quality of Florida's precious waterways."
A $199,862 grant was also approved for inventory updates for onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems inventory updates in over 75 percent of Florida’s counties. The DEP approved a $115,000 grant to create a OSTDS maintenance and management module in the DOH's database.