Brevard County is getting pressure from state leaders to accept wastewater from new commercial development around the Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The county says it wants to help with the wastewater needs of the growing space industry but insists on "due diligence." That means addressing its dwindling wastewater capacity on Merritt Island, dealing with the environmental requirements of industrial waste and making sure county residents don't bear the cost.
County officials say that, even without the additional demand, the Sykes Creek treatment facility will reach capacity within 10 years. That’s partly due to a drive to get homes off septic systems in the state’s ongoing effort to remediate pollution in the Indian River Lagoon.
As for a long-term solution, the county is seeking funds to study the possibility of a future treatment facility in Port St. John.
In a recent letter, the heads of several state agencies -- FloridaCommerce, Space Florida, and the departments of transportation, education and environmental protection -- pressed the county to take the sewage. Otherwise, the letter implies, all sorts of state funding could be at risk.
Here’s how the Oct. 28 letter frames the implied threat:
“Should the County do so, and thereby strengthen Florida’s space industry, then we as state agency leaders will remain confident in the funding we have deployed and plan to deploy to the County through various state funding mechanisms.”
At a County Commission meeting Monday night, Commissioner Katie Delaney called that approach “unacceptable.”
She said they do need to work on a solution.
“But if we're going to be partners,” she added, “I'm asking these entities who sent this letter to actually be our partners and not threaten the people of Brevard County.”
Commissioner Thad Altman, who is also president and CEO of the Florida Astronauts Memorial Foundation, called the challenge an "incredibly exciting opportunity."
“This allows us to be a part of fixing a serious problem that the space center is facing now, but it's a good problem, because no one anticipated that we would be soon facing 600 launches a year,” he said.
Commissioners directed staff to pursue their due diligence concerns as they meet with Space Florida in the coming weeks.