Update 2018-03-02: The amendment was withdrawn, thanks to all of you who called!

They’re going to vote tomorrow (Friday), so call today or very early tomorrow and ask your state rep to vote against Amendment 246447 by Rep. Ingoglia on HB 1149. That amendment would force septic tanks to be installed near springs while putting off useful actions for years during further “review” and “study”.

Contact numbers for them are here: http://myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/myrepresentative.aspx

Or here are all the ones in the Suwannee River Basin listed on a web page.

Illustration from the “2015 final report written as part of the study originally authorized in Specific Appropriation 1682 of chapter 2008-152, Laws of Florida”.

On House Bill 1149, a general environmental regulation bill, Rep. Blaise Ingoglia (R-35) this afternoon introduced Amendment 246447 which includes for example:

(3) As part of the pilot program, the department, in coordination with the Department of Health, must:

(a) Review and build upon the findings in the 2015 final report written as part of the study originally authorized in Specific Appropriation 1682 of chapter 2008-152, Laws of Florida.

(b) Review existing and ongoing studies on nitrogen reducing technologies for onsite sewage systems.

(c) Install and operate eight aerobic and two anaerobic onsite sewage systems at occupied home sites in at least seven different priority focus areas. Each priority focus area must be located within a different basin management action plan boundary to provide adequate representation of the various soil and geologic conditions and water table elevations found in the different priority focus areas.

We don’t need more studies to show sewage is bad for springs. We certainly don’t need more septic tanks installed near springs to show what we already know.

Please call today to stop this amendment.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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