Water and Sewer12-8-06
Water Supply and Sewage Treatment
VII.WATERSUPPLYAND SEWAGE TREATMENT
Watersupplyand sewage treatment are essential services accompanying the
development of land for housing, non-profit and community institutions,
commerce and industry. While many services, such as electricity and telephone
communications, are ubiquitous and available to all without complications, water
supply and sewerage systems develop in relation to the surrounding infrastructure
and natural environmental conditions, and to the intensity of uses required of these
systems.
Issues and Opportunities
1.Water availability within the Town is constrained by a bedrock aquifer that
is diminishing in volume, and limited access to the sub-surface sand and
gravel aquifers associated with Sprout Creek and Wappinger Creek. Town
wells have the capacity to meet existing and future development within
existing water districts, but future service to additional districts would be
limited to roughly 400 additional homes. One-quarter of all residents that
participated in the 2003 Water and Sewer Survey reported some kind of
supply problem regarding their individual wells. The Town will need to
access alternative water supplies in order to meet future demands outside of
existing service areas.
2.Nearly two-thirds of the Town have soils that provide severe limitations to
septic suitability, and most of the remainder provide moderate limitations.
One in ten households participating in the 2003 Water and Sewer Survey
reported failing or marginal septic systems, and most had systems that had
been replaced at least once.
The Town has responded to problems of water supply and sewage disposal by
making significant capital investments in central water and sewer systems. The
history of these investments and the current status of Town and private water and
sewer systems are outlined below.Information regarding residents’ private water
supply and septic systems was derived from a 2003 Water and Sewer Survey
which was mailed to nearly 5,000 addresses in June 2003, to which approximately
1,500 residents responded.
Water Systems: Existing Conditions
The Town now has a central water supply system that serves approximately 3,400
households and a much smaller number of commercial establishments. The
current system, with two main well fields, can supply a maximum of 2.7 million
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gallons per day (MGD) duringlow water supply periods, such as a drought.
Current average demand is approximately 1.17MGD and current maximum daily
demandis1.70 MGD. Capacity appears to be sufficient for current and future
development within existing water districts, if zoning remains unchanged.
Future demand Town-wide,however,based on current zoning, is estimated to be
4.0MGD. Since future demand outpaces the maximum reliable supply,
accommodating only 400 additional households outside the current water district
boundaries, the Town will eventually need to find alternative sources of drinking
water for its residents. The primary alternatives are to connect to the
Poughkeepsie system, which draws from the Hudson River, or to the Fishkill
system, which draws from the Clove Creek aquifer.
The water system has developed substantially since the Town’s purchase of
Hilltop Water Works in 1970. Hilltop, drawing from the edge of the Sprout Creek
Aquifer, has the capacity to produce 1,000 gallons per minute (GPM), and can be
relied upon to produce 350GPM, or approximately 0.5MGD, in drought
conditions.
TheTown then purchased the Rockingham Water System and developed a new
water district, Central Wappinger Water Improvement Area, with new service
areas in the vicinity of Kent Road, Brothers Road, DeGarmo Hills Road, Mid-
Point Park and Top-O-Hill Road. More recent improvements include the purchase
of the Atlas Well Field in 1990, a much larger producer than Hilltop, being rated a
condition flow of 1,500 GPM or 2.16 MGD. There has also been a recent upgrade
of the entireTown’s source storage and transmission components, amounting to
over $9,000,000, which is known as Project No. 99-2(R).
Most older, smaller central water systems have been integrated into the Town’s
Water District. The most recent two being the Oakwood Knolls Water District
and the Wappinger Park Water District. However, there are a number of
remaining private independent water systems, including Alpine Commons,
Montclair Condominiums, Woodhill Green Condominiums, and Village Crest
Apartments.
There are three other Town-owned Water Districts not connected into the Central
Water system. The first two are the Fleetwood Water District at the south end of
Town, which is connected into water from the Village of Fishkill wells, and the
Watchhill Water District, also on the south side of Town, which is hooked into the
Town of Fishkill Water Supply System.
The last remaining Town District is the Tall Trees Water District, which is on the
west side of Town, adjacent to the Hudson river. This district is served by their
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own two private wells, which have a marginal supply. It should be noted that the
residents of the Tall Trees Water District have been on water conservation
restrictions for the last 3 to 5 years.
The quality of the drinking water in the Town’s central system is monitored by the
State and it is good. On the other hand, private systems, both individual wells and
those serving larger numbers of users, have frequently had water quality concerns,
usually with regard to taste or odor, water hardness, and the effect of minerals in
the water on plumbing fixtures. One-third of those participating in the water and
sewer survey rated the water quality of their individual wells as marginal or
unsatisfactory.
The water quality of individual wells is threatened by nearby septic systems that
are either too close or failing. Of the survey participants that knew the distance
between their well and their septic system, one-quarter said that this distance was
less than 100 feet, which is the standard minimum today.Of the 1,552
respondents, two percent said that their system was failing, and seven percent
reported the system as marginal. In addition, household oil tanks – particularly
those which are buried and more difficult to monitor – are a constant threat to
water quality, and contamination from a leak could go unnoticed in individual
wells until the water is tested. Thirty percent of those participating in the water
and sewer survey have not tested their well water in the past five years.
In addition to water quality problems,some Town residents find that they cannot
get enough water from their individual wells. One-quarter of all residents that
participated in the2003 Water and Sewer Survey reported “marginal,”
“substandard,” or “supply problems” regarding their individual well systems.
While the survey shows that residents with water quantity problems are distributed
throughout the Town, residents on Cedar Hill Road, Losee-Sucich,Fowlerhouse
Road, Peggy Lane, Apple Blossom, Peter Road and Montclair Condominiums
have significant issues, and the Town is looking into the feasibility of serving
these households with central water.
Typically, water lines cost $250 per linear foot to install, or about $1.32 million
per mile. Costs are borne by the users, and each new group of users is organized
by the Town into a water district, which pays for its share of capital and
operational costs. Households may pay between $600 and $1,200 or more
annually for water service in a new district, depending on the density of
development (more compact development requires less investment for service, so
annual fees are lower).
Sewage Treatment Systems: Existing Conditions
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Water Supply and Sewage Treatment
The Tri-Municipal Sewage Treatment plant in Poughkeepsie was built in 1984,
and the Town of Wappinger, at one time a partner in its development, connected to
the system as a tenant user in 1995, which allowed the Town to remove two under-
performing plants from service. The Tri-Muni plant is currently configured to
treat 2.775 MGD, of which Wappinger accounts for 1.375 MGD, or approximately
half the volume to be treated. Actual dry weather volumes from the Town are
approximately0.8MGD per day currently. The plant was designed to allow for
expansion as needed, up to a total of 16MGD. Because the plant is located on the
Hudson River, the treated effluent will have minimal environmental impacts,
compared with the former small, older facilities located on small tributaries.
Four sewer districts in the Town continue to rely on treatment through means
other than the Tri-Muni plant, due to distances and topography. The Watch Hill
Sewer District collection flows to a facility in Fishkill. Mid-Point Park, Fleetwood
and Wildwood each have small sewage treatment plants that dischargeinto
tributaries. Wildwood’s discharge into the much larger Wappinger Creek is less
of a long-term concern than the smaller creeks into which Mid-Point and
Fleetwood discharge. In addition, there are several private sewer plants in the
Town. These include Montclair Condominiums and Chelsea Apartments, and
Woodhill Green Condominiumsand Village Crest Apartments near Wappinger
Creek.
The Town’s sewer system has developed in phases, beginning with Phases 1 and
2, which were completed in 1990. Phase 3A was completed in 2001, and Phase
3B is currently in the planning process. Phase 3 is only inthe conceptual mode of
development with the focus on Mid-Point Park and DeGarmo Hills Road. The
execution of these plans hinges on the Town’s residents being able to afford them.
Construction costs have risen dramatically in the last 2 to 3 years and Federal
grants and State interest subsidized loans have become more scarce. It would
seem that these phases would become a reality when funds become available from
either the Federal or State governments.
These phases correspond to existing sewer districts, each of which collects its own
capital and operating costs from its own base property owners within the District.
In addition to the individual districts there is an overall Wappinger Sewer
Transmission/Treatment Improvement Area (WST/TIA), which extends from
Smith Crossing Road in the northeast to Fleetwood in the southwest. This overall
sewer improvement areawas created in approximately 1990. Areas outside of the
WST/TIA are generally zoned for much lower density. Residents within Phases 1,
2 and 3 paid between $300 and $500 per year into the system, whether they
currently receive sewer service or not.
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Phases 1 and 2 re-routed sewage from Sewer Improvement Area No. 1, Oakwood
System and the Rockingham System, and their outdated plant to the Tri-Municipal
Plant in the Town of Poughkeepsie. Phases 1 and 2, which combined cost
approximately $16,000,000, was designed to accommodate 1MGD of waste
corresponding to the future level of demand, when all parcels in this District are
developed to the then current zoning. Phase 3A expanding service to respond to
failing septics in neighborhoods to the east and west of the previouslyestablished
Phase 1 and 2, with approximately 800 residential customers and a number of
commercial users in the District. This cost was approximately $11,000,000. This
phase included expanding the Tri-Municipal Sewage Treatment Plant to
accommodate the additional 375,000 GPD of flow.
Phase 3B will further expand the service to some combination of the following
targeted areas:
xx
Route 9Mid-Point Park
xx
Sub-areas to the North and SouthDeGarmo
xx
Edgehill ManorMiddlebush Road
xx
Shale DriveFowlerhouse Road
xx
Route 9D/HughsonvillePeggy Lane
The capital cost for this per resident will be significantly higher than those in
Phases 1, 2 and 3, and without funding could easily reach $1,500 per year per
household. The cost of this project will vary, however, depending upon the areas
identifiedby theTown for sewer service.
In general, sewer system expansion costs slightly more than water system at
approximately$300 perfoot or $1.58million dollars per mile (MDM).
Accompanying the cost for the pipe line is the necessary expansion of the Tri-
Municipal Sewer Treatment facility to accommodate the treatment of the newly
generated flows. The New York State Revolving Load Fund allows participating
municipalities to save on interest payments by subsidizing the interest charged
through the life of the bond and actually providing the Town with a manual check
to defray this costs. The Town has participated in this program for Phases 1, 2 and
3A saving in excess of $4,000.000.
Individual septic systems in the Town have historically had a high rate of failure
and most have been replaced at least once. The Town is constrained by a high
percentage (59 percent) of soils that provide severe limitations to septic suitability,
and most of the remainder (39 percent) provide moderate limitations. Limitations
include shallow soils (depth to bedrock), soil types that are easily saturated with
water, hydric soils, and wetlands. Nine percent of households participating in the
2003 Water and Sewer Survey reported failing or marginal septic systems, and
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most had systems that were newer than the house, indicating that the original
septic system was replaced at some point in the past.
Many areas in the Town with soils that pose severe limitations to septic systems
have been developed as one acre lots (as zoned by the Town), and a number of
these lots have reported marginal or failing systems in the 2003 Water and Sewer
Survey. The areas in or near soils with severe limitations with large numbers of
septic system problems can be divided into five main groups: the Brothers Road
area, the Apple Blossom – Peters Road area, the Helen Drive– Daisy Lane area,
the Tall Trees area, and the Lake Drive -Sky Top Drive area.
The largest area, referred to above as theBrothers Road area, is north of the
Rockingham Sewer District, south of the Mid-Point Park District, and bordered on
the east by the Sprout Creek and on the west by the Sewer Improvement Number 1
District. It includes approximately 100 lots and is approximately 175 acres in size.
Within this area, the residents of 363lots responded to the 2003 Sewer and Water
Survey, and of these, 34reported marginal or failing septic systems (9 percent).
This rate of lots with septic system problems does not take into account the
number of such systems that were marginal or failing in the past and were
replaced.
The Apple Blossom – Peters Road area is in the southeast corner of the Town,
from Leskow Circle to Apple Blossom Lane and Moccasin View Road. It
includes 13 marginal and failing systems out of 70 lots that responded to the
survey (18 percent), with an area of approximately 325 acres.
The Helen Drive - Daisy Lane area (also known as Quiet Acres) just south of the
airport and adjacent to the Town Atlas Wellfield contains another significant
cluster of lots that reported marginal septic systems. Other areas with clusters of
failing or marginal septic systems include the Tall Trees development, and in the
Lake Drive - Sky Top Drive area.
Two areas with moderate soil limitations also contain clusters of marginal or
failing septic systems. Hughsonville Hamlet and the Route 9 area between
Fowlerhouse Road and Smithtown Road have significant numbers of failing or
marginalseptic systems.
The Town is faced with the need to respond to multiple areas with chronic septic
system problems, and to also consider the need to allow denser development in
community centers to enhance community character, which also demands the
infrastructural support of sewer and water. There is considerable support for
further development of central sewer services among the residents of the Town
who do not yet have sewer service: of the survey participants who responded
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directly to Question #12 (“Would you consider hooking into the system for
$850?”), 59 percent said “Yes,” and 41 percent said “No.”
Coordinating Water and Sewer Service with Land Use
Planning
The Community Character and Land Use Chapters call for developing and/or
enhancing community centers in four main locations: the Old Route 9 District, the
Hughsonville Hamlet, Chelsea Hamlet and Myers Corners. By directing
development to these areas, the Town will better protect existing rural and semi-
rural areas. But Wappinger’s opportunities for creating higher density housing
cannot be achieved without central water and sewer service. Currently, none of
these four areas, except for the southern area of the old Route 9 commercial
district,are served by central water or sewerage systems. Plans for allowing
increased densities in these areas must be accompanied by plans to serve these
areas with central utilities.
Also, some currently undeveloped areas of Town may become overburdened by
demands from too many septic systems located too close together, if they are
developed according to existing zoning. There are several areas of concern where
there are soils with severe septic limitations to the north of current sewer districts.
These areas are currently zoned at densities that have resulted in high septic
system failure rates in similar soil conditions in other parts of the Town. (See the
Environmental Resources Chapter for more details.)These areas are unlikely to
be served by a central sewer system in the future.Rezoning for lower densities in
these areas may be necessary.
Goal
Continue the development of a system of central utilities to address the needs of existing
developed areas with water supply and sewage tre
atment problems, and to achieve land
use goals and objectives.
Objectives
A.Extend utilities at the lowest cost feasible by serving the highest number of users
per linear distance of utilities.
B.Encourage public involvement in planning decisions associated with
municipal
sewer and water service.
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Recommendations
1.Organizewater and sewer districts to include both cost-effective denser
areas and cost-ineffective existing problem areas.
2.The Town may consider reducing allowed residential densities in some
areas north of the sewer districts, where there are several undeveloped
parcels of 10 or more acres which have the same soil constraints as the
Brothers Road area to the south of Mid-Point Park. To offset the lost
development potential of rezoning these lands, and to enhance community
character and tax base, the Town may consider strategically rezoning key
areas for higher density, and providing central sewer and water to these
areas, as recommended in Dutchess County’s Greenway Connections, in
the section “Coordinating Development with Central Utilities.” (Please
refer to the Land Use Chapter for a full discussion of this recommendation.)
3.Identify new sources of water supply for the Town. They could potentially
include connection to the newly constructed County water line on the east
side of Town or successful negotiation with New York City for apossible
source from the Chelsea Shaft 6 on the west side of Town.
4.The Town should continue to seek legislation in Albany to consolidate
water districts.
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