TO: Indian River County Board of County Commissioners
THROUGH: John A. Titkanich, Jr., County Administrator
Sean C. Lieske, Director of Utility Service
FROM: Howard G. Richards, PE, Manager, Capital Projects
DATE: June 3, 2025
SUBJECT: Department of Utility Services Recommendations for a Mandatory Connection Policy for Water and Sewer Services
__________________________________________________________________
BACKGROUND
Indian River County Department of Utility Services (IRCDUS) provides drinking water, wastewater, and reuse water services to major portions of the County including the City of Sebastian and the Town of Orchid. The remaining residents are serviced by private wells, onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems (OSTDS), the City of Vero Beach Utilities, and Fellsmere Utilities.
The water system, the largest in the County, comprises two (2) water treatment plants (WTPs) and over nine hundred (900) miles of distribution pipeline. The wastewater (sewer) system, with three (3) regional wastewater reclamation facilities (RWWRFs) and more than 484 miles of sanitary sewer collection mains, is also the largest system in the County. Overall water and sewer services comprise approximately 57,000 and 34,000 accounts respectively, serving a population of over 110,000 across an Urban Service Area (USA) of 96.44 square miles.
Indian River County (IRC) is experiencing significant growth, which is expected to continue while even accelerating during the foreseeable future. Along with other IRC Departments, IRCDUS is undertaking initiatives to ensure sustainable utility services in alignment with the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) Strategic Goals. One such initiative is the multi-year Septic-to-Sewer (S2S) Program, aimed at converting residential and commercial properties with OSTDSs to the County’s central sewer network.
ANALYSIS
Florida Regulations
Mandatory connection to centralized sewer is regulated by the State of Florida, section 381.00655(1)(a), Florida Statutes. In addition, Florida Senate Bill 23-1632 (SB 1632), enacted in 2023, includes provisions for water quality improvements and septic tank regulations by requiring property owners to connect to an available publicly owned sewer system when that service is available after receiving advance notification. Key provisions of SB 1632 include:
• Prohibit new OSTDS within a Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) or Indian River Lagoon (IRL) Protection Program. (Note: The majority of Indian River County is located within a BMAP or IRL Protection Program boundary.)
• As of January 1, 2024, any new OSTDS permit in specific areas must be for an Enhanced Nutrient Reduction Onsite Sewage Treatment and Disposal System (ENR-OSTDS).
• By July 1, 2030, any property using an OSTDS within the IRL Protection Program area must either connect to central sewer, if available, or upgrade to an ENR-OSTDS or other wastewater treatment system that achieves at least 65% nitrogen reduction.
Other provisions under SB 1632 require owners of sewer systems to:
• For existing sewer availability - Notify the owners of OSTDSs of the availability of sewer service.
• For pending sewer availability - No less than one year prior to when sewer will become available, notify the affected property owners of OSTDSs of the anticipated availability and that they will be required to connect within one year of actual availability. Upon notification of sewer becoming available, owners have up to 365 days to connect to the central sewer.
• Provide property owners with the option of prepaying the amortized value of the required connection charges in equal monthly installments over a period not to exceed two years from the date of the initial notification of anticipated availability.
• Owners of OSTDSs that need repair or modification to function in a sanitary manner or to comply with the new requirements, must connect to sewer, if available, within 90 days after written notification. In hardship cases, upon request, a one-time extension of up to a 90-days may be approved.
• Require by February 2, 2026, and every two years thereafter, utilities within the BMAP must provide FDEP an inventory of noncompliant properties with existing OTSDS where sewer is available but are not connected. For each identified property, include the date(s) which the utility provided written notice of the availability of sewer.
Municipalities with Mandatory Connection Policies
Municipalities in Florida that have adopted mandatory connection policies include the following:
• Citrus County
• City of Palm Bay
• City of Bonita Springs
• Pasco County
A cursory review of their Code of Ordinances shows all four follow the House Bill 1379/Senate Bill 1632 requirement to allow connection within 365 days after written notice. However, City of Palm Bay and Citrus County require 90 days to connect if the OSTDS needs repair. Citrus County additionally has a mandatory water connection policy and offer details on funding assistance.
Current Conditions
As of September 17, 2024, there were a total of 63,749 tax parcels within the USA, with 53,302 having a structure on site. Of the parcels with structures, approximately 28,374, or 53%, do not have an existing sewer account with the County. This number infers the potential number of OSTDSs that exists within the County. Since IRC’s Code of Ordinance requires a water service connection to receive sewer service where both are available (Section 201.04), a further breakdown of the 28,374 without sewer service was determined:
|
Water Service |
Sewer Service |
Total |
Action Required |
|
Available |
Available |
2,613 |
Connect to water and sewer |
|
Available |
Not Available |
20,725 |
Build new sewer infrastructure |
|
Not Available |
Available |
162 |
Build new water infrastructure |
|
Not Available |
Not Available |
4,874 |
Build new water & sewer infrastructure |
Where water service is shown as “available”, a further breakdown was made to determine if a water account exists with the County, and if not, is there an existing lateral or not. For sewer accounts, the breakdown was a determination of the existence (or not) of the laterals. The breakdowns were made to evaluate prioritized actions and estimating budget requirements. A summary of the water and sewer scenarios is as follows:
|
Code |
Legend |
Description |
|
WAE |
Water Account Exist |
The customer already receives IRCDUS water service |
|
WALE |
Water Available, Lateral Exist |
Water service is available at the property and the service later with meter box is existing |
|
WANL |
Water Available, No Lateral |
Water service is available at the property and there is no service later and meter box existing |
|
WNA |
Water Not Available |
Water service is not currently available at the property |
|
SALE |
Sewer Available, Lateral Exist |
Sewer service is available at the property and the service later with cleanout is existing |
|
SANL |
Sewer Available, No Lateral |
Sewer service is available at the property and there is no service later and cleanout existing |
|
SNA |
Sewer Not Available |
Water service is not currently available at the property |
Assigning water and sewer codes to each of the 28,374 parcels with structures that do not have a sewer account, yields the following order of priority connections:
|
Priority |
Water Code |
Sewer Code |
Total |
|
1 |
WAE |
SALE |
15 |
|
2 |
WAE |
SANL |
1,853 |
|
3 |
WANL |
SALE |
2 |
|
4 |
WANL |
SANL |
743 |
|
5 |
WAE |
SNA |
19,589 |
|
6 |
WNA |
SANL |
162 |
|
7 |
WANL |
SNA |
1,136 |
|
8 |
WNA |
SNA |
4,874 |
The S2S Program is aimed at addressing where sewer service is not available.
System Capacity
Over the last eight fiscal years from 2017 to 2024, IRC’s WTPs and RWWRFs produced an annual average daily flow (AADF) of 10.99 million gallons per day (MGD) and reclaimed an AADF of 5.26 MGD, respectively. The current combined permitted capacities of the two systems are 20.440 MGD and 12.017 MGD, respectively, on an AADF basis, indicating excess or ‘available’ capacities of 9.450 MGD and 6.757 MGD, respectively, based on permit.
Over the same eight-year period, the annual average number of water and sewer accounts were 52,584 and 31,557, respectively. IRCDUS Customer Service classifies customer accounts into eight (8) categories. Summarizing the customer categories into higher-level groupings is shown in the following table:
|
Customer Group |
Water Service |
Sewer Service |
|
Residential |
86.7% |
80.1% |
|
Mobile Home |
5.7% |
9.5% |
|
Commercial |
4.7% |
5.8% |
|
Multi-Family |
2.0% |
3.3% |
|
All Others |
0.9% |
1.3% |
Assuming the distribution of customer account categories held over the eight-year period, the AADF of drinking water produced, and wastewater reclaimed, per account, was 209 gallons per day (gpd) and 167 gpd, respectively. Making sewer available and connecting up to 28,374 parcels with structures will require the reciprocal of up to 6,917 new water accounts. The approximate new loads that could be generated on the two systems are 1.445 MGD of water and 4.738 MGD of sewer. (Note: These numbers are being evaluated and will be further refined in the Integrated Water Master Plan.)
Although the estimated new water and sewer loads can theoretically be accommodated within the excess or available permitted capacities of both treatment systems, it should be noted that this does not consider any new growth within the County. In addition, water and sewer plants typically need to begin evaluating the need for capacity upgrades when the plant reaches 80% of its design capacity. Furthermore, it should be noted that major infrastructure improvements within the water distribution and wastewater collection infrastructure network would be required to distribute the increased loading among the WTPs and RWWRFs. As such, IRCDUS is undertaking the Integrated Water Master Plan (IWMP) project (Project ID: 00.23.547) to evaluate the medium- to long-range needs for capacity and infrastructure investments.
Septic-to-Sewer Program
The IRCDUS S2S Program was initiated in late 2010 to early 2011. In 2017, the “Septic to Sewer Conversion Evaluation Report” by Schulke, Bittle and Stoddard, LLC, was completed that laid out the top 30 prioritized areas based on several factors, including: soil type/condition; proximity to surface water; population density; depth to ground water table; and age of existing OSTDSs. These top areas account for 5,868 OSTDSs with a potential pollutant reduction of 103,908 pounds per year (lbs./yr).
Since the S2S Program launch, IRCDUS has completed the following projects:
• North Sebastian:
o Phase 1 (2018) - US-1 from Bay Street to Sebastian Cemetery; US-1 from Jackson Street and North Central Avenue
o Phase 2 (2023) - 128th Court to 130th Street (west-east) and 83rd Avenue to Roseland Road (north-south); east of railroad tracks to Kelso Place (west-east) and 83rd Avenue to Roseland Road (north-south); Rufner Lane; and Ercildoune Heights.
• West Wabasso:
o Phase 1 (2013) - 64th Avenue, 66th Avenue, 86th Lane, and 86th Street
o Phase 2 (2019) - CR-510 and 83rd Street, 62nd Avenue, and 64th Avenue
o Phase 3 (2024) - 59th Avenue and 58th Court (3B), and 61st Drive (3A)
• Floravon Shores:
o Phase 1 (2006) - 110th Place
Under these completed projects, there were a total of 424 residential and commercial properties with OSTDSs that were eligible for conversion to the central sewer system. Of that number, approximately 320, or 75%, were converted. It should be noted that property owners were offered very generous financial incentives to connect, however, 25%, or 104, did not take advantage.
Upcoming S2S projects include the following:
• Floravon Shores Phase 2 - 110th Street - In Bid phase; estimated completion April 2026.
• Hobart Landing - In procurement for Design Builder; estimated start July 2025.
• Wabasso Island including Orchid Island Estates - Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) grant awarded; estimated start August/September 2025.
• North Sebastian Phase 3 - Old Dixie Highway from 129th Street to Bay Street, including the streets directly west of Old Dixie Highway along this route - Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) grant awarded; estimated start December 2025.
These projects account for approximately 259 properties with over 309 OSTDSs with a potential pollutant reduction of over 7,500 pounds per year (lbs./yr).
S2S Funding
Funding for the S2S Program has been available from several sources including grants from St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD), Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program (IRLNEP), Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Water Quality Grant Program; other funding such as American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the use of Optional Sales Tax (OST), and Utility Assessments for water service, and Impact Fee (Fund 472). Except for FDEP grants, these funds have either been discontinued or are not expected to be available for future projects. For example, based on recommendations in the recently completed Utilities Comprehensive Rate Study, new IRC Finance rules now prohibit the use of Impact Fees for utility service extensions.
Going forward the expected funding sources for S2S projects will be the FDEP Water Quality Grant Program and 471 Utility Operations Funds. Since the Utility Operations Funds are generated from water and sewer sales, it behooves IRCDUS to ensure properties that benefit from S2S projects will connect to the system when sewer service becomes available.
Cost of Extending Water and Sewer Services
Based on projects completed between 2017 and 2023, the “all inclusive” average costs of the public infrastructure to extend water and sewer services are $1.42M and $5.58M per mile of main, respectively. Costs include a) professional services (engineering, surveying, etc.), any owner direct purchases (ODPs) such as major material and equipment, construction services, and other direct costs (ODPs) such as permits, etc. Sewer service costs also include construction of newlift stations. Based on the number of properties that were eligible to receive services from those projects, the average costs are as follows:
• Public Infrastructure Cost, Water Service Extension - $26,900 per property
• Public Infrastructure Cost, Sewer Service Extension - $105,700 per property
It should be noted that the public infrastructure cost for sewer service extensions is heavy biased towards gravity, since that type of sewer made up the majority of recent installations. For new sewer installation under the S2S Program, IRCDUS will evaluate the option to install vacuum sewer system. However, no recent installation cost for vacuum sewer is available for comparison.
All remaining costs to complete and establish water and sewer services to individual properties fall into two (2) broad categories: a) private side connection (physical hookup to sewer) and, b) customer service charges (account establishment). For a typical residential property, total customer service charges are $1,508 for water service and $2,704 for sewer service. Both customer service charges include impact fees of $1,463 (water service) and $2,624 (sewer service) and account deposits. There is also a $25 New Account Fee that is also required.
The private side connection cost for water service ranges from $3,000 to 4,500 including permitting and installation (plumbing). Connection for sewer service varies significantly depending on the type of central sewer system, i.e., gravity, pressure, or vacuum, and the properties’ method of connections. Costs typically include permitting, equipment, installation, and restoration including septic tank abandonment (sewer service). The range of costs for the combinations of central sewers and property connection methods are as follows:
• Private Side Connection Cost to Gravity Sewer:
o Gravity Connection - $5,800 to $12,600
o Pumped Connection - $11,800 to $25,400
• Private Side Connection Cost to Pressure Sewer:
o Grinder System - $14,400 to $30,900
o STEP [1] System - $12,200 to $26,100
• Private Side Connection Cost to Vacuum Sewer:
o Vacuum Interface Unit - $11,600 to $24,800
[1] Septic Tank Effluent Pumping (STEP) system treats the wastewater onsite in a septic tank and pumps the effluent to the sewer main.
Relevant IRC Policy
The following are excerpts from relevant sections of the Indian River County Code of Ordinances that are applicable to the recommendation section of this Staff Report:
A. Section 201.04. - Sewer connections require county water: If water service is not available, the customer shall install a meter approved by the county on any private potable water supply, and the county shall use the meter reading for purposes of calculating sewer charges.
B. Section 201.08. - Rates and charge, Subsection K Additional costs for complex connections: If in the event a particular service required by a customer is determined by the department to have a cost which greatly exceeds the average, then such cost of service shall be negotiated between the department and the customer and reduced to a written instrument approved by the customer and the department.
C. Section 206. - Special Assessments: Special assessments against property deemed to be specially benefitted by county improvements shall be assessed upon the property…in proportion to the benefits…to be determined and prorated according…
Waivers or variances from these policies can help to ease the financial burdens of connections under certain conditions.
POTENTIAL FUTURE BOARD ACTIONS
As required based on the Board’s action to the staff recommendations below.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT
Environment: Advancing responsible environmental stewardship by protecting, conserving, and managing natural resources and by fostering environmental awareness.
Infrastructure: Planning, constructing, managing, and maintaining critical public infrastructure in response to our current needs, future demands, and the expectations of our community; embracing innovation, technology, and resiliency.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the Indian River County Board of County Commissioners consider, approve, or provide guidance on how to proceed with the following proposed actions that will be presented by the Department of Utility Services (not in any order of sequence or priority):
A. Development of a mandatory connection policy in compliance with Florida Senate Bill 1632 including review and concurrence by Legal and County Administrator. The policy will include but limited to:
1) Notification of sewer availability
2) Require properties to connect to water and/or sewer service, where available, or when the services will become available
3) Providing appropriate financing options
4) Granting extensions of time under certain conditions
B. Support for the Director of Utility Services or designee to negotiate costs under special circumstances in accordance with County Ordinance, Section 201-08(K). This would apply primarily to existing properties with Onsite Sewage Treatment and Disposal System s that abut a sewer main. For example, a property owner connecting to gravity sewer will be subjected to the full cost up to $15,000. Where the connection cost is higher, the owner’s exposure would be the higher of $15,000 or 60% of the total cost, with a cap set at $60,000.
C. Offer a grace period (e.g., 15 years from the date of install) to convert to central sewer if a new home was built with Enhanced Nutrient Reduction Onsite Sewage Treatment and Disposal System before they are required to connect.
D. Waiver of County Ordinance, Section 201.04, requirement to meter private potable water supply if water service is not available, or is not economically unfeasible to provide water service, and approve a flat rate or tiered billing approach.
E. Waive the requirement to assess property owners (County Ordinance, Section 206) the IRC portion of the public infrastructure costs, including local match for grant funds.
F. Reassess using optional sales tax (OST) to offset a portion of the customer service cost.
G. Authorize waiving permit fees for customer water and sewer connections including but not limited to the following Departments/Divisions:
a. Building Division
b. Utility Services
c. Planning
H. Endorse and allow IRC’s promotion of third-party financing programs such as Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF) and Clean Water Coalition of Indian River County (CWC) programs.
I. Authorize the Dept of Utility Services to evaluate the development of its own financing options and administration arrangements with other Departments. Example:
a. Financing of the full cost to the customer for the private side connection up to five (5) years at prime plus 0.25%.
b. Financing of all new customer service costs up to five (5) years at prime plus 0.25%.
J. Authorize sending Mandatory Connection Notices in compliance with Florida Senate Bill 23-1632 as follows:
a. Existing parcels with structures that abut water and sewer service lines. This includes any completed S2S projects that made sewer available. Where the sewer service existed for more than 365 days, the property owners will be given 90 days to connect. At the County’s or Department’s discretion, an extension of 90 days may be granted for up to 180 days.
b. For benefitting parcels with structures of all in-progress and future S2S projects. At least 365 days from sewer becoming available, owners will be notified of the upcoming availability. Upon sewer becoming available, owners will be sent a second notification of sewer availability and given 365 days to connect. During the two (2) years from the first notification, owners will be given the option to pay in 24 equal installments for all their cost obligation to connect.
All Mandatory Connection Notices (MCNs) will be accompanied by costs sheets outlining the property owners’ obligation to pay for connection, and the available options for payments, e.g., self-pay, financing, 24 months financing 0% interest, etc.