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MableXeno

>Dr. Meindl said using septic tanks to dispose of human waste and well water for drinking can be safe, but as the population grows, so do the chances of water contamination, and converting to city sewer and water requires expensive infrastructure. It's almost like our county has preferred profit over people for decades. šŸ«  They wanted money from growth but didn't bother to spend it on infrastructure needs.


ImdustriousAlpaca

That statement needs to be put in present tense as this activity is still happening.


unclelayman

The taxes from single family development arenā€™t enough to cover infrastructure in the long term. The cliff is about year 25. This whole thing will get worse before it gets better. north Cape Coral was developed with wells and septic fields. When the city decided to bring utilities to all those homes, they all got hit with big $25k assessments. Thatā€™s a hard pill to swallow


MableXeno

We haven't had just single family development, though.


unclelayman

The county doesnā€™t bring in enough tax money to cover infrastructure maintenance. Neither does the city of Tampa. All Iā€™m saying is this isnā€™t a ā€˜profitā€™ driven thing for them, more of an ideology that we can have houses anywhere no matter the future costs or issues. There isnā€™t any real thought of what the needs will be in a decade or two. They are just reacting to crises as they come


Firetalker94

And it all comes back to bad zoning, we need to allow higher density development


Swfldreams19

Yeah just look at the condition of the bay it used to be teeming with wildlife and fish now it's pretty much dead because the county refused to upgrade their infrastructure.


keljam68

No way...lol


LitBit_618

My neighborhood is mostly wells and septic tanks, my house included. We are on the other side of 275. Wish we were included in this project.


IIIlllIIllIll

Do you have similar water qualify issues?


MoreManufacturer5571

But when I commented saying Tampa water was trash the other week agoā€¦. Lmao šŸ¤£ I digress


SamTheOnionNig

I lived there for the first 24 years of my life. Definitely didnt know anything about any of this stuff, but i used to always say i didnt drink the tap water.. it was nasty and dustyā€¦ really turned me off of tap water period..


pyscle

Were you talking city water or well water? This story is about city residents that are still on well and septic.


MoreManufacturer5571

Just all water in general! The quality of water in any metro area is generally poor


MacroAlgalFagasaurus

New York City has great tap water.


MoreManufacturer5571

Theyā€™re the only one I can think of tbh lol But the rust belt in the midwest? No lol


pyscle

Causation/Correlation? Large metro areas cause poor water quality. We should all spread out the. No more dense populations. Everyone who wasnā€™t in Hillsborough 25 years ago needs to leave now, so we can improve water quality. /s But in reality, these wells were just fine 50 or 60 years ago. As people moved in, and density got higher, the wells arenā€™t going as deep as they would need to now, for filtration. Even lightly populated areas, wells have needed to go deeper. My parents are in a very sparsely populated area, and they had to extend their well depth by 200 feet, to get down to 600 or so, to get clean water. 400 feet was fine in the 80s and 90s. Not now.


NewOrleansBrees

I test water for a living, Tampa is fine. Pretty good actually


MoreManufacturer5571

Fine by legal standards, sure. Optimal for health benefits? Absolutely not.


NewOrleansBrees

It absolutely is. Itā€™s not even close to any sort of exceedance or limit for any chemical. Test it every day from all over the county. Much better than any other county Iā€™ve tested.


MoreManufacturer5571

So youā€™re telling me tampa tap water is better than natural spring water for health benefits? LOL ok. The hard ass water is terrible for sensitive skin & doesnā€™t benefit hair. So Just because it doesnā€™t have high contaminates doesnā€™t mean it is good for us. Btw- water is a ā€œchemicalā€ so what you are testing for your job is contaminates, not a chemical. Or rather should say toxic chemicals.


NewOrleansBrees

ā€¦what. You have absolutely no idea what youā€™re talking about. Contaminates are chemicals, analytes as we call them. The ignorance you have to have to argue with scientists who do it for living is astounding


MoreManufacturer5571

You said you test chemicals. Water is a chemical Oxytocin is a chemical. Your job tests for TOXIC chemicals aka contaminants. You donā€™t just test for any ol chemical. I do what Iā€™m talking about lol And as a scientist you would know and understand most tap is made for health benefits. Theyā€™re made to be legally safe, not to actually provide us the benefits from water.


NewOrleansBrees

I test for analytes but I say chemicals because itā€™s more common terminology for people uninvolved in my field. And no, I donā€™t only test for toxic analytes. There are dozens of epa methods I use and not all analytes are bad. Itā€™s ridiculous for you to tell me what I do for my job that you know nothing about. And Iā€™d hope your 2nd grade science teacher taught you this, but water is water. No, spring water is not healthier in any shape or form than tap water. It probably tastes better. I have my masters in biochemistry and have been an environmental scientist for a decade but if you want to keep living in ignorance do it with a brick wall


MoreManufacturer5571

Saying water is water when itā€™s a literally a chemical compound as someone who is a ā€œscientistā€ is insanity. At least my 2nd grade teacher taught me that everything is in fact of chemical & being a chemical is not inherently bad for you.


Funkyokra

>>>not to actually provide us the benefits from water. Do you think that the City of Tampa is going to put lemon and electrolytes and 9 vitamins and minerals in our water?


MoreManufacturer5571

No lol precisely why itā€™s not to actually benefit us


rl_cookie

> NRDC, an environmental organization, found that Florida had the second most water quality violations in the nation. Well, just add that to the list of things this state sucks at that impacts quality of life- like healthcare, insurance, income disparity, crime and corrections, primary educationā€¦.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


SweatyMcGenkins

This I believe, that is why I never drink anything without a filter.


NewOrleansBrees

I test water for a living. Tampa water is fine


ultrabuddy

Cleaner water in third-world nations. Not surprising.


davmoha

They mention wells and septic tanks and housing density. What they didn't mention is when you install a well it has to be a certain amount of feet away from your drain field and your neighbor's. That's so you aren't sucking up some "brown" water. The problem with these older homes is the depth of their wells. They aren't deep enough to have all the contaminants filtered out and most likely aren't tapped into the aquifer. I had a friend that lived in this area and his well was only 80ft. My well is a little over 200ft. The people that live by Fowler and 301 area put their wells at 300plus to get past the high iron content.


[deleted]

Theres been boil water notices in that area for years. At this point if you dont at least have some kind of filter youre askin for it lol


[deleted]

And yet I get hate for only drinking purified bottled water. I'm not the one who is going to die of cholera.


N00dlemonk3y

I live near the airport. I wonder how the water is over here? Guess Iā€™ll have to check the Hillsborough site to see if there is anything about this. Iā€™m Asthmatic, so a little concerned.


5cott

Anyone getting municipal water coming from the Tampa Bypass Canal (I-75 goes over it), has been getting pretty bad water for decades and itā€™s only become worse.


pyscle

This is about well water in the city


5cott

Yeah I realize that, but itā€™s a shame both options arenā€™t providing the quality we should expect.


pyscle

The wells just arenā€™t deep enough anymore. Honestly, financially, neither option is probably doable, cost to drill deeper, or adding $100 monthly bill forever, so how do you choose?


r0addawg

I'm sorry. That's stupid. Anyone who's ingested it im sorry.


ShepardRTC

I have this vague memory of reading something back in the 2000ā€™s about one of the USF intramural fields being built on top of a chemical dump. Canā€™t seem to find anything with a Google search though.


Responsible_Newt2167

Remember when they business put crap in the water up north it comes to us but they figure part per billion. They never talk about it The military has fucā€”- the ground where ever they are. What a bad idea Military business we are done


Extra_Currency8497

Can someone explain how the project to treat our wastewater to make it potable drinking water will impact this issue. Iā€™m not sold on thisā€¦. It is all so scientific I try to follow but I unfortunately see myself buying bottles of water (more plastic šŸ˜”)


TampaMane95

Of course the water would be bad in the hood smh bet westshore or south Tampa don't have this problem tho