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Shrub willows, provided by SUNY-ESF, were planted by volunteers and Owasco Lake Watershed Management Council staff at the town of Owasco nursery. They will be used for the installation of riparian buffers within the Owasco Lake watershed.
Kids play in the cool waters of Owasco Lake off the shore of Emerson Park Wednesday.
The wastewater treatment plant in the village of Moravia is one of two WWTPs in the Owasco Lake watershed, the other being in the village of Groton. In the 1970s, the Clean Water Act was adopted nationwide, and primarily targeted “point source” pollution — easily identifiable sites of pollutant discharge, localized and stationary, originating from a specific “point.” This is in contrast to today’s main concern to water quality, “nonpoint source” pollution — that which can’t be pinpointed to a single source, making those issues more difficult to remedy. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation began to regulate the operations of the WWTPs, which are categorized as point sources, and still do so today. The Owasco Lake watershed inspectors also respond to water quality concerns raised about the treatment plants, and coordinate with the DEC where necessary. The Moravia WWTP serves over 1,200 area residents and four local significant industrial users. This includes the Cayuga Correctional Facility (at maximum capacity, 1,282 inmates; in actuality, there were 663 inmates in 2021, per a facility audit), as well as three commercial operations.
To be in compliance with its DEC-issued State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, the WWTP treats wastewater to a level that measures below federal and state limitations on nutrient loading. Nutrient loading is defined as a quantity of nutrients entering a water body (here, Owasco Lake or any of its tributaries) over a given period of time. For example, per the permit, in 2019 the village’s WWTP was permitted to discharge a maximum load of 912 pounds of phosphorus; however, it only discharged 319 pounds — just over a third of the maximum load. In 2021, with the same maximum load permitted, it performed even better, and discharged 166 pounds of phosphorus, or under a fifth of the permissible amount. The facility also tracks the presence of other pollutants in the treated water, including fecal coliform, settleable solids and oxygen demand (both chemical and biological). The treated water is subsequently discharged to the Owasco Inlet. As the nearly final Owasco Lake Watershed Nine Element Plan for phosphorus reduction reports, the Moravia and Groton WWTPs contribute just 2% of the total phosphorus found in the lake. The graph with this column, presented at the final public meeting for the draft plan, illustrates the phosphorus loading from both facilities in comparison to their combined permitted loads threshold.
Both facilities have made enormous strides over the past few decades to enhance the quality of their treated water. Regardless, in any sector, we must always strive to improve baselines if we hope to progress. In 2017 and 2019, the state DEC identified deficiencies at the Moravia WWTP, mostly related to aging equipment, but also in areas where processes were failing or could be improved upon. These improvements will further reduce nutrient loading to the Owasco Inlet, which alone contributes approximately 50% of all water going into Owasco Lake.
After the village was awarded the Wastewater Infrastructure Engineering Planning Grant from the state Environmental Facilities Corporation in 2019, MRB Group of Rochester was hired to create a plan for upgrades, new structures and rehabilitation of existing systems that aligned with state DEC recommendations. Construction is planned to begin in late 2022, and to be complete in about a year, in winter 2023. All told, the project is budgeted at $7 million, with funding coming from various grants and loans available to the village. The planned changes, identified in MRB Group’s preliminary engineering report, include the following.
• A replacement influent building, with new screening and de-gritting equipment, to better remove solids from incoming wastewater
• A new chemical storage structure and new chemical feed systems
• A new aerobic digestion system, which will reduce the volume of sludge created
• Aerations tanks will be expanded
• Sand filtration systems will be expanded
• Stabilization of the Owasco Inlet streambank where the treated wastewater is discharged
• Repair of the effluent outfall on the streambank
• Replacement of sludge de-watering systems
• Rehab of the mechanical equipment of the existing aeration tank
• Rehab of the filtration systems currently in place
• Rehab of primary and final clarifier systems
Questions about the planned improvements can be directed to Bill Davis at MRB Group at (585) 329-4754.
Jillian Aluisio is a watershed inspector with the Owasco Lake Watershed Inspection and Protection Division. For more information, visit owascoinspection.com.
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Shrub willows, provided by SUNY-ESF, were planted by volunteers and Owasco Lake Watershed Management Council staff at the town of Owasco nursery. They will be used for the installation of riparian buffers within the Owasco Lake watershed.
Kids play in the cool waters of Owasco Lake off the shore of Emerson Park Wednesday.
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