Looks like these State mandates can get a wee bit expensive. (At least the affected people allegedly live near a waterway, unlike most Palm Bay residents) Orlando Sentinel Dec 15, 2025

Facing big bill for waste

Replacing septic tanks near Wekiva could cost Seminole

homeowners thousands

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Seminole commissioners were hit with a stunning dose of sticker shock this week after learning a state

requirement to convert most septic tanks near the Wekiva River and Gemini Springs to sewer systems could

cost the county and homeowners hundreds of millions of dollars.

For example, a homeowner with a septic tank near the Wekiva River could have to shell out at least $75,000 if

they had to pick up the entire cost of digging up their old septic tank and replacing it with a sewer connection,

according to a county document.

“I would say that a majority of our residents would not be able to afford to pay that, even if they went to the

bank and got a loan,” Commissioner Jay Zembower said. “None of us want to do that.”

Despite the costs, commissioners and county staff acknowledged that protecting the environmentally

delicate springs is critical. Old septic systems are major contributors to nitrogen and phosphorus polluting the

water bodies.

“I think we all agree that we all want to clean up the environment,” Zembower said. “We want to be kind to the

environment. We want to get the nutrients out of the water… But that comes with a cost.”

In Sweetwater Club — an upscale neighborhood developed in the mid-1980s just south of Wekiwa Springs

State Park — all 176 homes have septic tanks and are in the state-mandated conversion area.

“I would love to be connected to a sewer system. It’s something that should be done, especially because of the

environmental concerns,” Sweetwater resident Bahram Yusefzadeh said in his front yard Friday. “But I don’t

believe the average middle-class community could afford something like that. I don’t think you’re going to get

much support from most neighborhoods.”

Yusefzadeh added that such a project would involve tearing up his neighborhood’s streets and residential

yards. He recalled replacing his home’s septic tank about 15 years ago at a cost of more than $30,000 and

what an “expensive mess” it was.

Seminole commissioners blasted state legislators for enacting such a mandate without providing funding,

and leaving it up to local governments to figure out the costs.

“We can’t impose this on our citizens,” Commissioner Lee Constantine said. “It’s too big. It’s too large. So at

some point, the Legislature is going to have to bite the bullet and do what’s right. The state is going to have to

decide how to pay for it.”

Under the 2016 state law designed to protect Florida’s natural springs, the county has until 2038 to connect

septic systems on lots of up to an acre to sewer lines in designated areas within the Wekiwa Springs Basin or

Gemini Springs Basin. Or the county can require homeowners to upgrade their septic tanks to modern

systems that release fewer nutrients into the springs