From septic to sewer, Key Biscayne is helping to protect our Biscayne Bay | Key Biscayne

Just as a new roof, updated appliances, or a swimming pool can increase the property value of a home – so can connecting to a municipal sewer system, which alleviates the risk of septic tank failure and eliminates harmful environmental impacts from wastewater.

The Village of Key Biscayne is grateful to Miami-Dade County for its leadership and guidance as the community finalizes converting to full sewer integration.

This effort is one of many examples of how a local municipality and the county can successfully work together to provide residents with an option that improves the quality of life while creating a resilient infrastructure that protects one of our most precious resources: Biscayne Bay.

Moreover, the sewer connection offers maximum waste treatment as well as reduces the potential of sewage contamination into the groundwater, both on the property and in surrounding areas.

For an island community such as Key Biscayne, the discharge of liquid from septic tanks has nowhere to go but to seep into Biscayne Bay, leading to environmental impacts that are easily avoided with the transition to the municipal sewer system.

This septic-to-sewer conversion effort has truly been about public and private cooperation for the Village of Key Biscayne. The Village has worked closely with County leadership; Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (WASD); Department of Environmental Resources Management (DERM); and our community to ensure that all the resources needed were in place to connect residences to the sewer lines.

What began with recognizing our community’s needs and the environmental pressures that come from having more than 700 residences in an island community on septic tanks, led to a successful collaboration that makes Key Biscayne a success model for Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s Connect 2 Protect program.

The Village broke ground on its septic to sewer conversion project in 2006, installing 56,520 linear feet of sanitary sewer pipe, 165 sanitary sewer manholes, and fourteen sewer pumping stations at a cost of $11,369,096. Of the total cost, 72 percent was paid for using Federal, State, and County funds, reducing the financial burden on the community.

Once the sewer lines were in place, the Village worked with DERM to give residents a ten-year window to transition their homes to the new sewer system.

As we work with the few remaining properties to reach full compliance, the Village is grateful to all our residents who have been part of the process and helped us achieve our goal. Now with only 11 residences remaining, it is of the utmost importance that the Village comes to a successful completion of the septic to sewer conversion as soon as possible.

Providing residents of our community with a clean and efficient option to dispose of sewage is vital to our island community and reflects on both our environmental consciousness and interest in property values. But more importantly, we are proud to be doing our part to protect Biscayne Bay from bacterial and nutrient contamination and septic tank destructive impacts to the environment.

Our families, friends and neighbors work and recreate in our local waters, and we know all too well the vital role that the bay plays on our local health, ecosystem, and economy.

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