BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A Brevard County lawmaker is fighting new rules that will cost 2.6 million Florida families thousands of dollars a piece. The rules involve every family who owns a septic tank.
You usually never see septic tanks because they are buried under the ground. Under the new law, even new ones have to be inspected at the homeowner's expense.
"They have to charge me $150 to lift that lid down there," homeowner Richard Benne said.
Benne scraped away the vegetation and a layer of dirt to show WFTV where his septic tank is at his home in west Cocoa.
"I wish I could make $150 so easily," he said.
He just recently spent the money to have a septic company come out and inspect one at a new rental property. He didn't even know the state had passed regulations that would have required him to have the one inspected every five years, regardless of whether there are any problems with it.
"It's just another unwanted regulation, probably an unneeded regulation as well," Benne said.
The mandatory inspections can cost up to $400.
If the inspector finds a problem, replacing a septic system can cost $10,000 or more. The required inspections have sparked an outcry from the Florida panhandle to Brevard County.
The law was originally passed to try to protect natural Florida springs from being polluted by old leaky septic tanks.
Some people living in Rockledge are concerned that old septic tanks not only filter back into the water table, but leech out into the Indian River Lagoon.
"Pollutants dumped in one area, yeah maybe it takes a while to filter down to another area but it's everybody's problem," he said.
Advocates said if anything, the state should find another way to pay for inspections or ease the requirements. There is a compromise coming up before state lawmakers that could give local governments the option of requiring the inspections or not.
WFTV
