ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County is celebrating the 500th connection of its Septic to Sewer Program.
During a Monday ceremony, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and District 2 Commissioner Christine Moore marked the occasion by placing the final pieces in a 500-piece puzzle of the Wekiva River.
[Watch video below for progress on project and what’s next]
The conversion was completed in the Palms community near Lake Pleasant Road.
“With this conversion from septic to sewer, it will certainly improve the overall quality of the water bodies here in the Wekiva Water Basin,” Demings said.
The Septic to Sewer program began in 2021 and aims to improve the water quality of the Wekiva River and Wekiwa Springs.
According to Orange County, septic tanks are the source of 29% of nitrogen in the springs.
Moore lives in the neighborhood and said the program is vital to protecting water quality.
“When you think about the class one spring that we have a couple of blocks from our home, we have a responsibility to protect it,” Moore said.
The Palms neighborhood is the third phase of the seven-phase program.
When completed, almost 2,000 homes will have been converted from septic tanks to an Orange County central sewer system.
For more details, visit the Septic to Sewer Program here.