Town fined $5,000, must remove sanitary sewer overflows
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

The New York State Department of Conservation has implemented a consent order for all sanitary sewer overflows in Western New York as part of the Clean Water Act.

With that order came a fine of $5,000 to the Town of Amherst for its three SSOs located at Kings Highway, North Drive and Capen Boulevard.

Town Engineer Jeff Burroughs said he had been informed this past summer that the DEC would be moving forward with the requirement. The consent order arrived the beginning of January.

Region 9 of the DEC recognized the work done by Amherst to mediate the problem but had been under pressure to require the estimated 20 communities to remove all SSOs. An estimated 130 SSOs are located throughout WNY.

"It's a water quality issue the DEC wants to take care of," Burroughs said during Monday's work session.

The fine is a one-time penalty, unless the town doesn't follow a five-year plan to remove the SSOs. The town had the option to request a hearing against the DEC's consent order, but town attorney Tom Jones advised the town not to - due to lack of a defense.

"It is happening all over Western New York. (The DEC) wants to reduce or eliminate the sewage that is going into streams around here," Jones said. "We don't have much of a choice."

Burroughs said the town has until Feb. 1 to submit its plan on how it will remove the three systems located in the Snyder/Eggertsville areas. That region of town is considered older, with failing pipes. He estimated the SSO systems are 40-50 years old.

When heavy rains hit the area, the sanitary sewers become full of rainwater, causing the sewage backups. What is left is a lot of rainwater with diluted sewage, Burroughs said.

Two of the SSOs, at North and Kings, should be "fairly easy" to remove, but Burroughs said the one at Capen will be the most expensive.

The initial estimate for the work is $2-5 million dollars.

Burroughs said that if there is any silver lining to the consent order, it is that once the work is complete the town will be considered for grants intended for sewer work.

Supervisor Satish Mohan stressed at the meeting that the amount of water currently filtered through the SSOs is miniscule.

"It's 11.4 million gallons a year. Daily (the town water flow) is 30 to 200 million gallons a day, times 365 days a year," he said. "It's a very small fraction of the total water."

Burroughs said although the town knew of the issue this past summer there was still no way a $5 million project could have been completed in six months.

"It comes down to resources. We know what needs to be done," he said.

He added that since 1993 the town has spent $12 million on the Sanitary Sewer Improvement and Rehabilitation Project to maintain more than 500 miles of sewers.

Meaghan Boice-Green, representative for Region 9 of the DEC, said the consent order is a draft and negotiations will take place between the Town and DEC on how to handle the issue. The terms discussed could include the $5,000 fine.

"Our goal is to get the situation of the sanitary sewer overflows addressed in a timely manner," she said. "No one living in Amherst wants Ellicott Creek to become more polluted."