Staving off a potential wastewater crisis has become a critical reoccurring issue to come in front of the City of Brooksville this year.
The William S. Smith Water Reclamation Facility is projected to go over capacity without interventions, which would result in fines from the Environmental Protection Agency. Thus far, the City has had to institute a moratorium on certain developments in hopes those limitations would avoid any overages.
The light at the end of that tunnel continues to be the construction of a local sewer interconnect, a joint venture between the City, the County and Coastal Engineering Associates, Inc.
Richard Weeks, the City’s director of public works, spoke in front of the City Council during a meeting on Nov. 4 to provide an update on the situation. Meetings between Coastal, the City and County occur on a biweekly basis.
“Every meeting we are continuing to make great progress and getting closer to making this project a reality,” Weeks said.
Those discussions have included the City diverting a maximum of 600,000 gallons of wastewater per day to the County rather than it reaching the Smith plant. That would be an additional 3,000 equivalent resident units (ERUs).
That diversion could come from the Southern Hills area, where the City is utilizing a flowmeter to gather information and other existing valves in the system.
One other topic of discussion was a development called Hunnicutt Mason, named after the two parcels of land it will be built on south of Mason Smith Road on U.S. 41. There is a 10-year plan to build a projected 1,185 units.
That development is currently under the County’s control; however, the County would need to create water and wastewater lines from Hernando Oaks. The City, conversely, has those already in place nearby.
“After speaking with the County on a utility standpoint, it makes sense for the City to serve this property with our infrastructure being very nearly available,” Weeks said. “With that being said, a possible annexation of this property would make sense, as well.”
Weeks asked the City Council for permission to move forward with discussions on a deal with the developers of the Hunnicutt property, in which the developers would share in the cost of the construction of the interconnect from the Hunnicutt property to the Hernando Oaks wastewater lines. “This can essentially save the City hundreds of thousands if not millions in construction costs for the wastewater interconnect,” Weeks said.
The deal would allow Hunnicutt to use 237,000 gallons of wastewater per day over 10 years. That would leave 363,000 gallons per day for the City to send to the County, or roughly 1,815 ERUs.
The Council happily gave Weeks unanimous approval to enter into those discussions but with one caveat. Hunnicutt would need to agree to the annexation.
“For something like this, I would hope they would want to annex into the City, that these homes would become part of our tax base. I’m not necessarily interested in it remaining in the County,” Vice Mayor Christa Tanner said. “I would love some help in the funding of an interconnect, but I’d also want them to be inside the City.”
