Spencerport prepares for sewer plant to go off-line

Plans are underway for the Village of Spencerport to take its wastewater treatment plant off-line. Alternatives for the village were to improve and upgrade the existing facility or to go off-line and turn the operation over to Monroe County Pure Waters. "We decided to go off-line," Mayor Ted Walker said. "It's more cost effective in the long term, and even in the short term it is cheaper to go off-line than to upgrade the existing plant."

Upgrading the facility would cost about $11 million while going off-line and turning the operation over to Pure Waters will cost about $8 million, according to village officials.

"The potential impact from going off-line could be approximately $500 per unit annually," Walker said. The county will reimburse the village for a portion of the project and village officials are still researching grant opportunities for the project. The projected per unit cost would be for service from Pure Waters and debt service for the project.

The design phase of the project is complete and work will commence in early April. "The first shovel goes into the ground next week when the boring of new holes under the canal starts," Walker said. "A gravity sewer line will be installed there and that work will be done before the canal is filled."

Following the boring of the holes, some existing sewer lines will be refurbished while other new lines will be installed. "There will be work taking place in the Village Plaza and north of the Canal in the Bauer's Cover area," he said.

Other parts of the project include the installation of five miles of forced main pipes. "The last piece of the project will be issuing bids for the pump station and that construction likely won't be complete until the second or third quarter of 2008, Walker said. That involves the construction of a single story masonry building to house the pumps, backup generator and odor abatement equipment that would be part of the project.

"We anticipate minimal inconvenience for the residents and business owners during this project," he said.

March 18, 2007