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Water-Related News

Charlotte County launches next mass septic removal project

With little debate, Charlotte County commissioners signed the death warrant for the next 1,725 septic systems in mid-county.

Charlotte County Utilities Director Craig Rudy Tuesday ran through the $30 million, multi-year plan to remove septic systems on the west side of U.S. 41 starting around Cochran Boulevard around Lakeview Boulevard. The project would head south to Countryman Waterway into Alligator Bay.

Construction on the northern half of the project ending around Midway Boulevard could begin around 2024, Rudy said. The southern half of the project would be constructed much later.

Each project takes years of negotiations with property owners including consolidation of lots. County staff sometimes struggle to locate property owners.

This is the fourth septic-to-sewer project the county has undertaken, including East/West Spring Lake, El Jobean and Ackerman. A septic to sewer master plan in 2017 identified 4,769 systems as high priorty for removal due to their age and proximity to water. The goal was to complete removal in 15 years.

A 2019 report discovered, however, that hundreds of new septic systems are going in every year in Charlotte County, because so much of the county is missing sewers. The report predicted the county would continue to rely on septic systems to handle new growth.