Local official: ‘Aging infrastructure is a big deal everywhere’
Much of Okaloosa County’s water and sewer infrastructure is decades old but in better shape compared to many other parts of the United States, says county Water and Sewer Department Director Jeff Littrell.
He said the oldest part of the county’s water and sewer infrastructure system is from the 1960s.
“A lot more of the system is from the ‘70s,” said Littrell, who has worked for the county for 21 years. “Aging infrastructure is a big deal everywhere.”
In comparison to Okaloosa County, cities such as Philadelphia and New York City have water and sewer infrastructure from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, he said.
The county Water and Sewer Department is an enterprise department, meaning it generates funds/collects fees and is at least partially self-sustaining. Its current budget totals about $64 million.
Littrell said a key to the department’s success is getting the County Commission’s approval for a series of five-year rate plans.
“Nobody likes to raise rates,” Littrell said. “The commissioners sure as heck don’t like to raise rates. But we’ve done a series of five-year rate plans since I got here in the 1990s, so the rate increases are relatively small.”
For example, the water and sewer rates increased by 2.5 percent on Oct. 1, the start of fiscal year 2019.
“Our rate structure gives us the funds to not only stay up with repairing aging infrastructure, but to be proactive, like replacing the old sewer plant on Okaloosa Island” in the late ‘70s, Littrell said. “It was discharging sewage into the Santa Rosa Sound that wasn’t treated to today’s standards.”
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Ongoing challenges
One of the Water and Sewer Department’s ongoing challenges is repairing the county’s more than 40 miles of decades-old clay sanitary sewer mains that are plagued by settling and intruding sand and tree roots.
Clay pipes “are your classic aging infrastructure,” Water and Sewer Department Deputy Director Mark Wise said. “Over time, ground water can intrude into the pipe or sewage can get out of the pipe.”
In the past five years or so, about six miles worth of sewer pipe has been bolstered with the installation of cured-in-place liners, he said.
“It looks like a new pipe when you’re done,” Wise said. “We spend about half a million dollars every year to repair these pipes” but “we have more to line than what has been lined.”
The county also has about 4,200 brick and concrete manholes, some of which have been eroded by hydrogen sulfide gases, Wise said.
Littrell said the county has been relining manholes, sometimes more than once, during the entire 21 years that he has worked for the county.
The deepest manhole in Okaloosa County is about 10-12 feet deep, Littrell said. In comparison, some manholes in Kansas City, Missouri, where he used to work, are 50-60 feet deep.
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Pump it
The county has 150 sewer pump stations, which work like a relay system to send wastewater to treatment plants.
“Most people don’t know about them unless there’s a sewer backup or a sewer spill,” Wise said. “People might drive by one for years and not even notice it’s there because it’s underground and there may be just a little panel to the side.”
Most of the stations have two pumps, which take turns or sometimes work together to keep the wastewater moving.
Occasional pump station failures typically are caused by heavy rainstorms, Wise said.
“When you have storms, (huge amounts of stormwater) gets into the system and overwhelms it,” he said. “The pumps cannot keep up with the flow.”
Wise said county Health Department-issued advisories about high bacteria levels that sometimes close local beaches are not necessarily caused by failing pump stations. He said such closures could also stem from septic tank problems, aging sewers and runoff from yards that contain dog poop.
“We’ve replaced four large pump stations since I’ve been here,” Littrell said.
In addition to its 150 sewer pump stations and roughly 4,200 manholes, the county’s overall water and sewer infrastructure system includes:
• 487 linear miles of sewer mains
• 73 linear miles of sewer service lines, which are smaller-diameter lines that go from the mains to houses and businesses
• About 494 linear miles of water mains
• 33 linear miles of water service lines
• 21 water wells
• 20 water tanks
• 1 stormwater pump station
The county does not have data on the number of linear miles of stormwater pipe.
Stormwater
According to a 2016 report by the Florida section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Sunshine State’s overall infrastructure, encompassing 11 categories, received a C grade.
The state’s wastewater infrastructure received a C, its drinking water infrastructure received a C+ and its stormwater infrastructure received a D.
The report states that while there are more than 3,700 wastewater treatment facilities in Florida, one-third of the population is still served by septic tanks that rely on individuals to maintain and operate. According to the state Department of Health, there are about 2.6 million septic tanks in Florida.
The Society of Civil Engineers' report also states that Florida’s wastewater system is increasing in age and the condition of installed treatment and conveyance systems is declining.
It states that population growth, aging infrastructure and sensitive ecological environments are increasing the need to invest in Florida’s water and wastewater infrastructure.
The 2016 report also found that more than half of Florida’s stormwater entities revealed an inability to address all capital improvement needs.
That inability could apply to many things that governmental entities take care of, Okaloosa County Public Works Director Jason Autrey said.
“Take roads, for example,” he said. “Why don’t we build more roads? It’s just too expensive. Why don’t we build stormwater systems to address all of our needs? It’s just too expensive. The demand is too big.”
He pointed out that the concept of stormwater is a relatively new one.
“Forty years ago, it was just “get it off my property,”” Autrey said. “Back then, we didn’t test for things like nitrates, oils or fecal coliform.
Our awareness is much better now, and we’re applying that to infrastructure that’s 30-40 years old.”
Thanks to voters’ approval in November, the county’s 10-year, half-cent sales tax will take effect Jan. 1, providing a much-needed funding boost to help meet the county’s stormwater needs.
The tax is estimated to generate about $19 million annually for public safety, transportation and stormwater system capital improvements.
Almost $12.7 million of the estimated total will go to the county and the remainder will be divided among its nine municipalities, based on population.
While the county typically allots more than $1 million in county revenue to stormwater maintenance projects, its backlog of unfunded stormwater improvement projects currently totals about $70 million, Autrey said.
Over the tax’s 10-year lifespan, the county plans to spend about $25 million in sales-tax money for more than a dozen stormwater projects. Autrey said some of the tax money could be leveraged with grant money to help pay for the work.
The projects include construction of collection and treatment systems that are expected to lead to better water quality in local waterways.
“The reality is that stormwater runoff clearly has an impact on the receiving bodies of water,” said Autrey, who added that there are many causes of polluted water. “Stormwater runoff from the woods can contain high fecal coliform just from animals. You can have high nitrogen content from yards that were just fertilized.
“If you don’t have rain, you don’t have runoff and you’re not going to have water quality issues.”
Water woes in Walton
Besides diminishing the quality of water, stormwater runoff causes a number of other types of problems.
In South Walton County, for example, local businessman Joe Burton recently posted photos on his Facebook page of dune erosion at the Nightcap Street beach access in Seagrove Beach.
His Dec. 2 photos included one of a small hill of sand that had formed next to the bottom of the walkover’s stairs.
“It seems like water runs down from the intersection (of Nightcap Street and County Highway 30A) and goes down to the beach, Burton said.
The county is aware of the problem but still is waiting to receive a state permit to address it, said Josh Ervin, beach maintenance manager for the Walton Tourist Development Council. As of early December, the beach access remained open to the public.
“Anytime we get significant rain, such as several inches of rain over a short amount of time, there is not enough time for the water to percolate” into the ground, Ervin said. “So it goes down the path of least resistance. Over time, we get that erosion by the walkover and the dune system.”
The county is waiting to receive a permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection “to allow our stormwater system to treat stormwater off of 30A,” he said.
He said the permit was applied for several months ago but has faced delays because the FDEP’s permit office has been backlogged by Hurricane Michael.
“As soon as we receive the permit, we’ll get repairs done for a permanent remedy for that location,” Ervin said.
He said he hopes construction can begin by early next year on an extended walkover that will run next to the 30A right-of-way. A concrete swale with inlets to collect and treat stormwater will be built under the walkway, Ervin said.
Burton said he also has seen what might be similar erosion issues at the Gardenia Street beach access. But Ervin said he and his staff had not seen any evidence of such problems.
People can help decrease stormwater pollution by:
• Planting native plants vs. non-native plants, which need more fertilizer and sometimes require more water than natives
• Reducing fertilizer and pesticide use in your yard
• Mulching grass clippings instead of letting them go into the storm drain
• Not pouring paint, gas and oil into the storm sewer system
• Collecting rainwater off of the roof in a cistern
• Directing downspouts off of the roof onto your lawn instead of the driveway
• Not over-watering your lawn
• Allowing vegetation to be a part of impervious systems, such as driveways, to help absorb water and control erosion
• Supporting public land along waterways
• Asking local governing boards to fund water quality projects, especially stormwater upgrades
Sources: Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance and Okaloosa County Public Works Department