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Comprehensive Plan Potable Water Sub-Element Community Development Department Indian River County 34 Since 1990, there have been two significant changes regarding the provision of potable water. The first change has been the substantial increase in the customers served by centralized potable water systems. The second change is the reduction in the number of private water treatment plants operating in the county. Over the last twenty years, the county’s potable water system has expanded and now serves all urbanized areas of the county, including major commercial and industrial nodes. With that expansion, the county’s potable water system adequately met the potable water demand from new residential and nonresidential developments. There are, however, some existing residential developments with undersized lots that are not connected to the county potable water system. While the county’s primary concern regarding the distribution of potable water relates to the expansion of the network to accommodate growth, a secondary concern is to eliminate potential health risks. Among the principal sources of potential health risks are residential subdivisions with “undersized” lots. Generally, wells associated with undersized lots have a greater risk of contamination. This problem is due to inadequate separation between septic tank drainfields and wells. Without adequate separation, the potential of contamination from septic tanks seeping into wells is greatly increased. Thus, potable water wells on undersized lots are susceptible to contamination. In 2006, 30,402, or 63%, of the existing 48,188 residential units in the unincorporated area of the county, were connected to the county’s potable water supply system. Consistent with the county’s potable water master plan, the potable water system will be expanded within the USA in the future. This expansion will involve providing service to subdivisions with undersized lots. Between 1995 and 2006, 22 subdivisions with undersized lots were connected to the county potable water system. In most of these cases, the cost of connecting those subdivisions to the regional potable water system was funded through assessments paid by the property owners benefiting from the expansion. A review of the county utilities department’s assessment projects indicates that most residents of existing unconnected residential subdivisions would like to be connected to the county potable water system, but they are not willing or able to pay for the connection. In the past, the county utilized Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) to connect several low income neighborhoods in the Wabasso area to the county potable water system. The CDBG program, however, is a competitive funding source and is available only to low and moderate income neighborhoods. In the future, the county may, whenever the opportunity becomes available, apply for CDBG or other federal or state grants to connect homes in existing residential neighborhoods to the county potable water system. As indicated by recent land use and development patterns, the county has been successful at directing