Florida Bill Requires ATU Systems to Improve Water Quality
As of July 2023, new septic installations in certain areas of Florida require nitrogen-reducing ATU systems in place of traditional septic systems. Lakeland Septic would like to share some information about this mandate that will be helpful if it applies to you.
What Is An ATU System?
The formal name is “enhanced nutrient-reducing/nitrogen-reducing onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems.” They’re also called “aerobic treatment units.” For our purposes here, we’ll simplify it to “ATU systems.”
An ATU system works very much like a traditional septic tank. The primary difference is that it activates bacteria through the infusion of oxygen in order to dramatically reduce the nitrogen content in the wastewater.
This is the reason for House Bill 1379: the State of Florida became aware of waterbodies with very low-quality water in certain areas of the state, caused mainly by excess nitrogen, much of which was believed to have come from septic system effluent.
Therefore, it was decided that all new construction in areas requiring septic service include an ATU system instead of a standard septic tank. In some cases, ATU systems are also required when replacing an existing septic system.
The map on this page shows the areas, shaded in blue, where ATU systems are required.
A Change In Septic Maintenance Schedules
Along with the new systems comes a new scheduling mandate: property owners must schedule two maintenance visits per year for their ATU systems. This work is to be done by certified septic providers.
Lakeland Septic is qualified to handle all maintenance, repair and cleaning for the new ATU systems. We also install them. Our maintenance and installation work complies with the requirements of HB 1379 as well as all preexisting state and local septic codes.
