FREEPORT, Fla. (WMBB) – A Freeport sewer project in the works for over a decade had its ceremonial groundbreaking on Monday.
The 331 South sewer project will add a sewer line along the corridor for the very first time.
Freeport City Manager Charlie Simmons said this will allow for development along 331. The new sewer line will stretch from Highway 20 down to the Choctawhatchee Bay.
“The 331 South corridor, the reason why it hasn’t grown at the rate that everybody else has is because we have never had sewer on the 331 corridor,” said Simmons.
Walton County is contributing $6 million to this project, among other state grants and funds.
The project also includes getting some residential homes off of septic tanks.
“We’ve got a plan put together where we can get all of those septics and put them on what we call a vacuum system,” said Simmons. “It has no grinder pumps like nonseptic places. It’s a vacuum system that takes it right out of their house straight to the plant.”
Freeport Mayor Russ Barley said this will be huge for the environment.
“Getting the people off the septic is the most important thing because we eat the seafood that comes out of the bay and with the septic along the bay and the failing of septic this will help clean up the bay which is very important to the people that live here.
McDaniels Fishcamp Road will be the first to see homes converted to the new sewer system, followed by LaGrange Road.
Officials said the area should start reaping the benefits of this project within the next year.
