Posted on Thu, May. 01, 2008

South Florida counties must eventually stop pumping hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage every day into the ocean, under a bill the Legislature passed Wednesday that also sticks the counties with the $3 billion cost.

''It's the same old story: The state leaves the county with the big price tag,'' said Broward County Commissioner Ilene Lieberman, who has been monitoring the measure from Tallahassee.

Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach would have until 2019 to upgrade six water-treatment facilities that now pump about 300 million gallons of nitrogen- and phosphorus-laden water one to three miles off shore. The sewage, which is now lightly treated to remove only the most hazardous substances, would have to be treated to higher standards for reuse as irrigation water or for wetlands restoration projects.

By 2025, the South Florida Water Management District, which covers the three counties, would have to halt pumping into the ocean. The measure would only affect South Florida, because the three counties are the only ones in Florida still sending sewage into the ocean.

The mandate to upgrade the facilities unanimously cleared the House on Wednesday after unanimously passing in the Senate on April 16. The measure is now on its way to Gov. Charlie Crist, who has said he supports it.

For years, divers and environmentalists have protested the practice of releasing the brownish mucky water into South Florida's tourist-friendly ocean, contending the sewage damages coral reefs and fisheries.

Testifying before a Senate committee earlier in the session, Dr. John Proni, director of the Ocean Chemistry Division of NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, said his initial research pointed to an increase in bacteria levels where the sewage is dispersed.

When asked by senators if he would swim in the water, Proni replied that he ``would prefer not to.''

The bill's passage is tough news for South Florida leaders. Lobbyists for the counties have been fighting the measure, contending they are already strained by budget cuts and property-tax rollbacks.

''We're all for cleaning the environment. We just need some state funding,'' Miami-Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson said during a recent visit to Tallahassee. A study conducted by the University of Florida estimated that household water bills would likely go up $20 a month if the measure was approved and the cost passed on to taxpayers.

When the measure passed in the Senate earlier this month, the bill's main sponsor, Sen. Burt Saunders, a Naples Republican, argued it was necessary because the water is ``a valuable resource that right now we're just dumping into the ocean.''

Saunders, who chairs the Senate's Environmental Conservation and Preservation Committee, said the three counties can treat the sewage for reuse in land irrigation and wetlands restoration.

Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Director John Renfrow said it was too soon to determine a definite time line or plan of action for the project.

''We're going to have to study a lot of different elements,'' Renfrow said. ``How much is it going to cost? What to do with the extra water? The only thing on our side is time, because its going to take some time to plan this thing out.''

Miami Herald staff writer Evan S. Benn contributed to this report.