EPA grant bringing down Chassahowitzka sewer costs

Special to Citrus Times

local-wastewater_project Residents on the new sewer system serving Chassahowitzka got some good news recently when the federal government notified the county that a long-standing wastewater grant application had been approved.

It took about two years, but what the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant means is that the $6,200 assessment approximately 600 residents had to pay to get sewer and water will be reduced by about $1,900.

Since the assessments have already been made, the residents will be credited the reductions. Some residences and businesses already connected to package treatment plants only got water in the $11 million project that was finished a year ago. Those will see only about a $200 reduction in their assessments. But for the majority, pleased county officials said, it is a significant reduction in the residents’ costs.

Such sewer and water projects are not funded by general tax dollars, and the recipients of the services pay the costs not paid by state and federal dollars. Residents can pay the whole sum up front or pay it over time.

Citrus County Commissioner Gary Bartell, who had been pushing the project for years, said that while it would have been nice to have had the money to have reduced the original assessment, it will at least now help residents by bringing down the cost.

He credited the county staff for staying on the complicated grant for two solid years to make it finally happen. He also thanked U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, who originally helped the county get the application started with the EPA.

The Chassahowitzka wastewater project included putting a force main north to the county’s Meadowcrest treatment plant near Crystal River. The water service came from Sugarmill Woods.

During the past few decades, the community in the southwest corner of the county had seen its water quality degraded, and septic systems were the prime suspect. Concern for public health prompted the county to extend the wastewater project to the community.

A spinoff of the project for the community was the number of roads and streets that were redone as part of the project.