Watching dolphins play at Gilchrist Park, fishing off the pier at Boca Grande, kayaking in the Peace River, hiking in Babcock Ranch, and sitting on the beach while the sun sets — paradise. Charlotte County is a great place to call home. We live in a unique ecosystem where water is everywhere. It is our environmentally sensitive wetlands that bring nature to our door and make the recreational opportunities so much fun. This is why people choose to visit and move here.

Through a complex system of lakes, rivers, and aquifers we pump water for our homes, crops and for recreational use. Though this resource seems vast and hearty, it is not. Our growing population, diminished rainfall, dumping of chemicals and medications and leaching of fecal bacteria from failing septic systems, which is contaminating the ground and water, is shrinking our readily available supply of water.

Preventing water pollution from household hazardous waste and medications is easy; just take it to any of Charlotte County’s minitransfer and recycling facilities. Preventing bacterial contamination from septic systems requires a little more effort on the part of homeowners, but the reward is cleaner land and water, and saving thousands of dollars in repair bills.

Septic systems are miniwaste treatment plants and like their commercial-sized cousins they must receive periodic maintenance, otherwise, they fall into disrepair. Though the care and maintenance is relatively simple and inexpensive, all too often homeowners neglect them until it is too late. The most common reason septic systems fail is improper maintenance, putting the wrong things down the drain, and not having them pumped out every three to five years. When this happens, septic systems are unable to adequately process the waste, resulting in solid waste spilling into and clogging the drain-field. Eventually this will prevent the sewage from percolating down through the soil, leading to property and ground water contamination, and waste back up into the effected home.

Population density is the biggest determinant in whether central sewers or septic systems should be used. Central sewers are best used in high density areas and waterfront areas since the ground can only treat so much sewage before becoming overloaded. Septic systems do an excellent job in rural areas and areas high above the water table.

Centralized wastewater systems have the advantage of using technology to filter out the majority of household hazardous waste before being discharged from the waste treatment plant. However, this is not to say that such products should be dumped down the drain, because the filtering process is not 100 percent. The nondumping rule applies to septic systems, too, as it does not break down chemicals and will instead enter the canals, rivers and the harbor.

To keep our environment pristine and to improve recreational opportunities, Charlotte County removed the fallen Manchester Waterway Lock doors and then petitioned the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for a permit to remove the rest of the Manchester Waterway Boat Lock. On June 29, 2007, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection issued a permit allowing the lock to be dismantled with a series of conditions, one of which was the Charlotte County Health Department would develop and administer a program that would regularly service and inspect properties in the Manchester Waterway (Manchester and Spring Lake) until the property was placed on central sewer. On August 28, 2007, the Charlotte County Board of County Commissioners passed a county ordinance to comply with DEP’s permit.

For property owners in this area, this managed septic system program means that every five years septic tank operators will pump-out and inspect the septic tanks for structural integrity, and the Charlotte County Health Department will monitor the function of the septic systems. Learn more about your septic system.