PANACEA, Fla. (WTXL) — The county received a $2.8 million grant from Florida Commerce. This'll help a project to address storm and saltwater inflow and infiltration in the Mashes Sands area of Panacea.
- The county noticed issues of see grass getting into the sewer system around Mashes Sands Road and applied for funding.
- Neighbors say it's good that they're fixing the issue, but they were unaware it was happening.
- Watch the video below to learn more about the project.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Wakulla County has received a 2.8 million dollar grant to address issues of saltwater getting into the sewer of the Mashes Sands Road area
I'm Serena Davanzo, your Panacea neighborhood reporter, where neighbors say this is a good thing that they're addressing the issue, but say they didn't know it was an issue.
The project will be to address storm and saltwater inflow and infiltration into the sewer system. Neighbors in the Mashes Sands area told me they were in support of repairs, but said they weren't aware of the issue.
Neighbor Joshua Keith said that the issue may explain why he found silt going into his home when there was 2 feet of storm surge from a hurricane.
"I had gotten a bunch of silt, and all that blew back up through my toilet on the bottom floor, and I knew it came from there because of the way it was spread out through the house," explained Joshua Keith, neighbor. "So that was the only time the hurricane surge was high enough to get above the toilet rim. And that I noticed something was not normal, because it was it was mud in the house."
Some neighbors told me off-camera that it was the first time they heard of it when I talked to them. However, they said, if it needs to be done, it's great that the county has gotten funding for it.
This 2.8 million dollar grant was awarded to the county from Florida Commerce. The county said they noticed after past storm events that there were a few spots near Sunrise, Blue Crab, and Blue Heron roads in Panacea that storm water was entering the system.
"We know it's happened because after the storms, when we're cleaning the lines and getting the sewer system going again, like the day after a hurricane or whatnot, and we open a manhole, and there's seagrass in it," said Ned Nobles, the Utility Director for Wakulla County. "How did the seagrass get into the sewer? So we know there's an opening somewhere at least one, and we're going to be hunting for that."
This project will be to find where it is and fix it. County officials say that this'll help residents because it'll get the sewer systems back online faster after storm events such as hurricanes.
Keith emphasized the importance of maintaining infrastructure and said this project would do just that.
"I am a firm believer in upkeeping and maintaining any kind of infrastructure that's not seen," said Keith. "It's kind of like out of sight, out of mind, but whenever you keep those things maintained, I know that you're going to keep repairs down. You're going to keep the cost down on people's you know, future bills."
County officials say that if everything goes to plan with this project, it will be finished by the end of this year.
In Panacea, Serena Davanzo, ABC 27.
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