Port Charlotte septic advocates again resist county sewer mandate

By Evan Williams

A plan by Charlotte County officials to hook thousands of aging properties up to a central sewer system has run into sometimes “passionate, emotional” resistance from homeowners, said Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch.

Homes in the Spring Lake neighborhood, south of U.S. 41 and Midway Boulevard, use their own septic systems to treat wastewater. A public sewer system would instead pump the liquid mix of dishwater, urine, feces and other waste to a central treatment facility.

If central sewer for roughly 2,500 plots of land in Spring Lake is installed successfully, an estimated $22.2 million burden for taxpayers there, officials plan to do the same in other areas of the county that use septic systems.

Reports show a shared sewer system is more sanitary, especially for a densely populated neighborhood like Spring Lake, that sits close to waterways and has aging septic tanks, said Charlotte County Administrator Ray Sandrock.