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Comprehensive Plan Sanitary Sewer Sub -Element o Ninety-three percent of the county's soil is considered to have restrictive low permeable soil strata not suitable for septic system installations • Health and safety o Poor quality of septic system effluent compared to wastewater treatment plant effluent. o Potential for groundwater contamination and spread of communicable disease. o Cost and insufficiency of monitoring process. o Inappropriate septage disposal. • Environmental Consideration o Groundwater contamination. o Waterbody contamination. For those reasons, there is a need to expand the regional wastewater treatment system to areas where existing or future land uses, soil and groundwater conditions, proximity to surface water bodies, and/or lot size make continued use of septic systems unacceptable due to increased health and groundwater contamination risks. The county should allow the voluntary expansion of the regional sanitary sewer system to existing developments within the urban service area. Additionally, the county must determine under what conditions to impose retrofitting on existing development especially areas that impact the Indian River Lagoon and areas significantly less than % acre in size. Some parcels recorded or platted prior to 1972 are only 0.11 acres making it difficult to repair septic systems to code. As indicated in the finance section of this element, a major portion of the cost of service expansion to existing subdivisions is funded through assessments. In the past, some residents have objected to the costs of such assessments, often citing an inability to pay. The county must establish criteria to differentiate between areas where retrofitting is required. Because of the cost of retrofitting projects within the urban service area the most appropriate criteria to use to identify areas to retrofit are increased health risks and increased groundwater and/or surface water contamination risks. When any of the following conditions exist and the DOH -Indian River verifies that the health and groundwater contamination risks cannot be sufficiently reduced by any means other than connecting to the regional system, retrofitting must occur. Community Development Department Indian River County 31 Attac4g�ent 4