Summertime always makes me think of the supermarket. At least one time each of the past few summers, I clearly remember being at the supermarket during a rainstorm and watching the water wash over the parking lot, talking with all the other people debating whether to run to their car with a buggy full of food. Supermarkets, home goods stores, medical facilities, libraries, and shopping centers all provide important services that we depend on for our everyday life, but their development has altered the natural processes that control the movement of water from the landscape to creeks and ultimately to the bays and bayous around us (collectively referred to as receiving waters). Concrete, asphalt, and building roof surfaces are impervious, meaning that water cannot pass through them. As a result, more water washes off the rooftops, parking lots, driveways, and roads than before the area was developed. Less water sinks into the ground to move slowly toward receiving waters and to recharge aquifers. More impervious surface leads to more runoff to receiving waters, resulting in greater erosion and higher levels of pollutants like nitrogen, phosphorus, and silt in these waterways. These extra pollutants from the landscape and from eroding stream banks have harmful effects many types of organisms that call these waterways home.
New development in Florida is required to include features that “treat” a fraction of the surface water that runs off impervious surfaces before flowing into receiving waters. Treating surface water runoff means holding it back and preventing it from running quickly off the developed landscape; as it is held back, some pollutants may settle out or be consumed by plants. Treatment is commonly accomplished through features like dry retention basins or wet detention ponds, where water is stored and then slowly moves through soil pathways toward receiving waters. These features are common parts of our developed landscape: the big pond behind the supermarket or in front of the new truck stop, or the grassy pit next to the gas station. While these satisfy regulations, they occupy a considerable amount of land, typically are aesthetically lacking, and may not actually reduce pollutant runoff or stormwater volume as intended. They also can be neglected and become a nuisance in the landscape.
Nature-based stormwater infrastructure projects can play an important role in protecting communities in northwest Florida from the effects of heavy rainfall that occurs periodically in the region. Nature-based stormwater projects are designed primarily to incorporate the natural processes of infiltration that occur in undeveloped areas in the developed landscape, treating stormwater by reducing volumes of surface runoff and concentrations of pollution that could otherwise flow directly into receiving waters. Depending on their design, these features can also provide aesthetic enhancements that can increase the value of properties and the overall wellbeing of the communities where they are implemented. When used in coordination, nature-based projects such as roadside treatment swales, bioretention cells, rain gardens, green roofs, and porous pavement can provide similar levels of stormwater treatment as dry retention basins and detention ponds while also enhancing the aesthetic, recreational, or functional potential of the landscape.
Local government and extension staff across northwest Florida are working to introduce more nature-based stormwater projects into the panhandle landscape. To learn more about recent demonstration projects that have been implemented in our region, visit the WebGIS project https://arcg.is/1SWXTm0.
Rain garden/biofiltration cell at a medical office in Pensacola, Florida.
Flooding after a storm can damage septic systems, causing them to fail. Image: B White, NASA Public Domain
After floods or heavy rains, the soil in your septic system drainfield can become waterlogged. But, for your septic system to treat wastewater, water needs to drain freely in the drainfield. Special care needs to be taken with your septic system after a storm in order to ensure its proper function.
What should you do if flooding occurs?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers these guidelines:
Relieve pressure on the septic system by using it less or not at all until floodwaters recede and the soil has drained. Under flooded conditions, wastewater can’t drain in the drainfield and can back up in your septic system and household drains. Clean up floodwater in the house without dumping it into the sinks or toilet. This adds additional water that an already saturated drainfield won’t be able to process. Remember that in most homes all water sent down the pipes goes into the septic system.
If sewage from the septic tank has backed up into your house, clean up the affected area and disinfect the floor using a chlorine solution of a half cup of chlorine bleach to each gallon of water for thorough disinfection.
Avoid digging around the septic tank and drainfield while the soil is waterlogged. Don’t drive vehicles or equipment over the drainfield. Saturated soil is very susceptible to compaction. By working on your septic system while the soil is still wet, you can compact the soil in your drainfield, and water won’t be able to drain properly.This reduces the drainfield’s ability to treat wastewater and leads to system failure.
If you suspect your system has been damaged, have the tank inspected and serviced by a professional. How can you tell if your system is damaged? Signs include: settling, wastewater backs up into household drains, the soil in the drainfield remains soggy and never fully drains, a foul odor persists around the tank and drainfield. The tank shouldn’t be opened or pumped if the soil is waterlogged. Silt and mud can get into the tank if it is opened and can end up in the drainfield, reducing its drainage capability. Pumping under these conditions can cause a tank to float or ‘pop out’ of the ground and can damage inlet and outlet pipes. Only a licensed professional should clean or repair the septic tank.
For septic systems with electrical components, make sure to check all the electrical connections for damage before restoring electricity (to pumps, for example).
Have your private well water tested if your septic system or private well were flooded or damaged in any way. Your well water may not be safe to drink or to use for household purposes (making ice, cooking, brushing teeth or bathing). You need to have it tested for total coliform bacteria and E. coli to ensure it is safe to use.
Many county health departments provide testing for bacterial contamination. If they do not offer testing, they can help point you to commercial labs in the area for testing.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) also maintains a site where you can search for certified water testing labs by county: Certified Water Testing Laboratories
Join us for a two-part webinar series: Managing Stormwater in a Changing FL Panhandle 2023 on May 3 from 8-11 am CST (9-12 pm EST), and May 17 from 8-11 am CST (9-12 pm EST). For those that have attended in previous years, we have a lot of new material to present and discuss.
May 3: Session 1 will focus on Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) and its maintenance, as well as presentations and discussion on the ecological function of GSI+LID (Low impact Development) and the Community Rating System
May 17: Session 2 will focus on implementing GSI+LID at the community level, with presentations and discussion on updates and opportunities for LID+GSI in Rules and Regulations, available funding and educational resources for project implementation and community-based social marketing.
PDHs and CEUs offered:
4 Professional Development Hours (PDH) will be offered through the Florida Board of Professional Engineers. Two PDHs will be offered for Day 1 and two will be offered for Day 2.
4 Continuing Education Units (CEU) will be offered for Pesticide Applicators through FDACS in the following categories: Ornamental & Turf, Private Applicator Ag, Right-of-Way, Aquatic, Natural Areas, Commercial Lawn & Ornamental, Limited Commercial Landscape Maintenance, Limited Lawn & Ornamental and Limited Urban Fertilizer.
The webinar is free for those not seeking PDHs or CEUs. For those seeking PDHs or CEUs, the cost is $50 for Day 1, and $50 for Day 2.
We look forward to your attendance! Feel free to contact Andrea Albertin if you have any questions: albertin@ufl.edu or (850) 875-7111
Private well system in Florida. Image: C. Wofford, UF/IFAS Photography
As a private well owner, you are responsible for ensuring that your water is safe to drink. What do you know about where well water comes from? Do you know how well water can become contaminated? If you want to learn about steps you can take to help ensure your drinking water is safe to consume and about what you can do to help protect groundwater quality, join us at our upcoming workshop. We will cover how private wells and septic systems work, maintenance, protecting drinking water quality, and disaster preparedness for this upcoming hurricane season.
The workshop will be offered on Thursday, April 13, 2023, from 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm at the Jackson County Agriculture Offices, 2741 Penn Ave., Marianna. You can also attend virtually viaZoom. Registration is $5.00 per person. Facilitated water screening for total coliform and E. coli bacteria is available for FREE! Please register using this Eventbrite link, or you can also register by visiting the Jackson County Extension Office, 2741 Penn Avenue, Suite 3, Marianna (850-482-9620). This workshop is being presented by UF/IFAS Extension Bay, Calhoun, Holmes, Jackson, and Washington Counties.
For lead and nitrate testing prices and additional details, visit our Eventbrite page or call the Jackson County Extension Office at 850-482-9620. Pre-registration is encouraged as seating is limited, but as mentioned previously, a virtual option is also available. For persons with disabilities requiring special accommodations, please contact the Extension Office (TDD, via Florida Relay Service, 1-800-955-8771) at least ten working days prior to the class so that proper consideration may be given to the request. UF/IFAS Extension is an Equal Opportunity Institution.
It seems odd that we would be talking about maintaining your sewer system; that was a selling point to convert from septic. But there are things we do that can cause clogs in the lines that initiate what we call Sanitary Sewage Overflows (SSOs). These overflows can overflow into your home and into the street, entering the stormwater systems leading to our coastal waterways.
How you can prevent this is pretty simple – watch what you pour down your drain. After visiting one sewage treatment facility in Georgia, we were told by the plant manager “If you tell the public one thing… tell them to quit pouring bacon grease down the drain”. He then held up a pipe from their system that was 80% clogged with bacon grease. All fats, oils, and grease poured down the drain eventually solidify and form clogs. Recently they have found that milk solidifies as well. You should avoid pouring all of these products down the drain.
So, what do we do with it them?
In Escambia County, the local utility provides a free service to deal with this they call the FOG Program (FOG – Fats, Oils, Grease). They provide large metal cabinets outside locations around the community. Inside, there are 1-gallon plastic containers. You take one home. Fill with your fat, oil, and grease. Return it and get a new one. They take these oils back and covert them into biofuels. It is very similar to the propane system for your BBQ grill – and often found at the same place – but the difference is that there is no charge. If you live in Escambia County, you can find the FOG dispensary cabinet closest to you at ECUA FOG. If your county does not offer this service, encourage them to do so.
The FOG gallon containers are found in these metal cabinets placed around the county.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
Another issue that has caused SSOs is the flushing of “flushable wipes” and similar products. They are “flushable” but not “degradable”. There was one report from London of a ball of flushable wipes equivalent in size to one of their buses found in the city sewer system. I have seen signs in public restrooms that say “flush nothing but toilet paper” – and that is good advice.
1-gallon container provided free to dispose of your oil and grease.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
And there is one other thing that you, the property owner, can do to help reduce the chance of leaking sewage into our waterways – maintaining your laterals.
Laterals are the pipes extending from you house to the sewer system under the street. Maintaining these are the responsibility of the homeowner, and most do not – or may not know it is their responsibility. Newer developments should have laterals in good shape, older ones should be inspected. I live on an older community in Pensacola. Many of the houses in our neighborhood were built in the 1930s, some in the 1920s. The laterals were made of terracotta, or something similar. They have cracked and filled with roots and dirt over time. There is certainly leakage ongoing, and the homeowner may not even know it.
This past summer we had a sewage backup. We called a plumber who first recommended scoping the laterals. This involved sending a television camera scope down the line. We found that half way between our house and the street it was relatively new PVC line. From the halfway point to the sewer line in the street, it was old terracotta. The sad part of this was we had paid a contractor to replace the terracotta to the street – they only did half. You would say this fell on the contractor to fix, but that contractor was no longer in business – if fell on us. We paid to have the rest of the lateral converting to PVC, we are now good.
The point of this story is two things… (a) many have never had their lateral surveyed, you should to make sure all is good. This is not only good for the environment, but also will save costly repair bills down the road. (b) Just because you paid to have to have it repaired does not mean it was. I recommend you use a certified, well known plumber to check and, if needed, replace/repair your line.
If the property owner will consider, and act on, one of the following three this can reduce the health advisories issued in our coastal waters significantly. We encourage you to do so and educate your neighbor and friends to do the same.
If on septic, develop and enact a septic tank maintenance plan.
Convert from a septic system to a sewer system.
If on sewer, have your laterals inspected, do not pour fats, oils, grease, or milk down the drain, and do not flush flushable wipes or similar products.
If you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact your county extension office.
Part of the 2019 UF IFAS social media survey across Florida found that many Floridians understood how septic systems worked, but fewer understood how sewer systems functioned. This article is going to try and tell you the basics of how sewage treatment works.
As we just mentioned, many people have no idea where their sewage goes after they flush – nor do they care – as long as it does not stay here 😊. When we flush – it goes – and that is all we think about. This is one of the advantages of sewer over septic – you do not have to maintain anything. You just flush and go. However, we will see in Part 4 that there are some things that are still on us to help keep sanitary sewage from reaching our coastal waterways.
So – where does the sewage go when we are on a sewer system?
The raw sewage leaves our house through a pipe called the lateral. This line connects to the municipal sewage line under the street. From here it flows to the local sewage treatment facility. In some communities, this is downhill from the residential area, and the sewage flows via gravity. In others, it is uphill and must use a series of pumps, or lift stations, to get the raw sewage to the treatment plant.
Sewage treatment facility.
Image: Oro Loma Sanitary District.
Once it reaches the plant the sewage undergoes PRIMARY TREATMENT. This is a series of methods that physically treats the waste. Often, stop #1 is a screen that removes large objects. You would be surprised what ends up in the sewer lines heading to the treatment facility. Wood, boxes, and plastic bags. I heard one treatment plant found a small hog in their screen system.
Once past the screens the wastewater is run through a grit chamber. This continues the physical process of removing large objects from the wastewater as it trickles through. Material such as sand and rock settles to the bottom of the chamber. This settled material can be removed, treated, and disposed of.
The effluent (water) continues on to stop #3 – the settling tank. Here it is allowed to sit so that smaller fine solids can settle to the bottom of the tank – not that different if you placed muddy water into a clear 1-gallon jar and allowed it sit, the mud would slowly settle to the bottom making the water clearer. This settled material contains much of the solid waste from when we went to the restroom. Here it is called sludge. The sludge is drained off, treated, and usually dried in a pile that would resemble dirt. Some communities load this into trucks and take it to a designated area in the landfill. Some communities will use it as a fertilizer on crops. Some countries allow this but not for crops that will be used as food. I heard some locations around the world use the dried material to form bricks and building materials.
Studies show that primary treatment can remove as much as 60% of the suspended solids and 30-40% of the organic waste that is oxygen-demanding in an aquatic system.
But…
It does not remove pathogens that maybe be in the sewage, phosphates and nitrates that can cause eutrophication, salts which alter the salinity and living conditions for aquatic life, radioisotopes, nor pesticides. For this, we will need secondary treatment.
The clearer effluent remaining after settling moves to SECONDARYTREATMENT. Where primary treatment was a physical method of treating wastewater, secondary treatment is a biological method. Stop #1 is the aerationtank. Here the effluent is aerated using a sprinkler system that provides oxygen so that the microbes living in the tank can further break down any pathogens and other biological demanding waste. This treated water is then sent to a second settling tank where more sludge is allowed to settle. The settled sludge is then cycled back into the aeration tank – and the process continues. The clearer water at the surface of the second settling tank is then sent to a tank where is disinfected – often with chlorine. If balanced correctly, the amount of chlorine added is enough to kill much of the remaining bacteria but not high enough to be a threat to the environment. This water is then analyzed for contaminants, including fecal bacteria, and – if it passes the test – is discharged into a local waterway as treated sewage. Studies have found that a combination of primary and secondary treatment can remove 95-97% of the suspended solids and oxygen-demanding waste, 70% of most toxic metal compounds, 70% of the phosphorus, and 50% of the nitrogen.
For many communities this is good and is the end of the line. For others, they are willing to spend additional dollars and move to more advanced treatments before discharge – what is called TERTIARY TREATMENT. One method of tertiary treatment is using a series of filters that can reduce the levels of phosphates and nitrates remaining in the effluent. These compounds are the ones that trigger eutrophication and algal blooms and many communities feel the extra charge on their bill is worth it. These filters can actually remove some viruses. Some use chlorine for a second round, however studies have shown that increased amounts of chlorine can react with organic materials to form chlorinated hydrocarbons – which have been linked to cancers, miscarriages, and damage to human nervous, immune, and endocrine systems. For those going this route, many have opted for UV radiation or ozone treatment in lieu of more chlorine.
After either secondary or tertiary treatment, many municipalities run their treated effluent through a marsh or swamp before it reaches the open water systems. Studies have shown that these plants are very good at up taking nutrients, and some other contaminants, as the water flows through them.
Many feel this is a better method of treating human waste than a septic system. One point is that YOU do not have to manage your tank – the city does. Though this is true there is a monthly bill to pay for this service and some would rather not pay that. It is also important to understand that you are not quite off the hook yet. There is maintenance needed to the sewer system BY THE HOMEOWNER, and we will discuss this in Part 4.
