Apr 30, 2008 12:57 pm US/Eastern
Law Will End Dumping Of Treated Sewage In Ocean
All Ocean Dumping Must Stop By 2025
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ―
Looking to the future, state lawmakers have passed a measure that would city or county utilities from dumping millions of gallons of treated sewage a day into the Atlantic Ocean.
The bill now heads to the Governor's desk for his signature.
Currently, Miami Dade, Broward and south Palm Beach counties are the only municipalities in the state that pump treated waste water into the ocean; collectively about 300 million gallons a day, or enough to fill up 450 Olympic swimming pools every day.
Under terms of the Senate bill, which passed unanimously, the three counties have a decade to upgrade their treatment facilities from minimal to advanced treatment and end all ocean discharges by 2025. The treated wastewater can be used for irrigation and other purposes.
Governor Charlie Crist and state regulators sided with environmentalists, divers and some scientists who believe that treated sewage has severely our damaged reefs, marine life and beaches.
Miami Dade and Broward counties opposed the measure saying it would be too costly and there is no hard evidence that the treated sewage has had an ill effect on either the marine life or coral reefs.
Miami-Dade has already committed to $1.4 billion in projects that would recycle and reuse 40 percent of its wastewater over the next 20 years. The county's Water and Sewage Department said with the new law, they will have to spend more than $2 billion to meet the newly created requirements; that cost will be passed on to customers who could see their water bills double.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)
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