This paper assesses the accuracy of respondent-reported sewage disposal methods in the American Housing Survey (AHS) as compared to publicly available administrative records. The study is limited to the state of Florida and focuses on data collected in the AHS from 2015 to 2021. The AHS data and administrative data are classified into two main categories of sewage disposal, namely public sewer systems and private septic systems, which are referred to throughout this paper as “sewer” and “septic,” respectively.   

This paper also looks at the prevalence of public sewers in Florida according to the AHS, meaning the number of households that reported being connected to a public sewer. These are compared to administrative data to evaluate whether the AHS may be over- or underestimating the prevalence of public sewers. The effect of “do not re-ask” dependency is also examined, wherein AHS housing units that have reported being connected to a public sewer in a previous cycle are assumed to be unlikely to switch to private septic and are no longer asked about their sewage disposal type.