Village of Lewiston looks to add more structure to sewer connection systems

Public hearing set for Dec. 2

By Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

With water inflow and infiltration problems occurring throughout both the Town and Village of Lewiston, Water Pollution Control Center Administrator Jeff Ritter is recommending a new course of action.

In the village, trustees are considering a local law that would, among other things, prohibit a person from uncovering, making any connections with, or opening into, using, altering or disturbing, any public sewer or appurtenances thereto without first obtaining a written permit from the clerk-treasurer or Board of Trustees; and states there shall be two classes of building sewer permits.

A copy of the proposed law can be downloaded and viewed HERE (PDF).

On Monday, Ritter explained why the Village Board should vote to adopt more of the town's sewer use code.

“We are currently under a consent; we violated our permit for six months straight because of the water that we've been having at the plant. Infiltration,” Ritter said. “There's an old adage that said, ‘If it can be measured, it can be managed.’ So, this is another way that we're trying to do everything we can to cut down on inflow and infiltration within the treatment plant.

“You'd be surprised: a small leak here and there, 10 gallons a day, 24 hours a day. We don't want to have to curtail any kind of developments or anything like that. So, the town sewer forces are going to start moving in a little bit and be involved with (Department of Public Works Supervisor Anthony) Mang here in doing house inspections. We want to get a better feel for where the inflow and infiltration sources might be here in the village. Spend a little bit more time in it.

“Preventative?” Mayor Anne Welch asked.

“Preventative,” Ritter said. “We're going to put some money into it from the treatment plant, as to say lining some manholes in the village, and doing everything we can.

“We've also been involved with Town of Porter. We're trying to do the same thing there. It's all in an effort to try to stay ahead of things.

“It's the only time in the 14 years that I've managed the place that we violated a permit for water. Managing water, with rainfall, where it goes into the stormwater, and where it goes into the sanitary sewer, are two very important things.”

“You did you have that major rainfall (in June) that really contributed to it,” Welch said.

“Every little thing is going to help,” Mang said.

“What happened in the rainfall over in Morgan Farms is somebody in the neighborhood measured 5 inches of rain in less than three hours. There's a discharge pipe at the end of Morgan Farms that was completely crushed, that had the whole neighborhood connected to it, so that water had no place to go except infiltrate into the small cracks in the sewer system.

“So, any time that we can manage water, whether it be stormwater and definitely sanitary sewer, it will be best for our plant.”

With regard to the manholes, “Jeff and I had really briefly touched base on just trying to identify a handful for now, just that are big problems,” Mang said. “I know Trustee (Jim) Fittante had been talking about infiltration and inflow for a while, so this is going to help all that stuff. I think it's a positive – definitely a positive for the village to help us keep all these issues under check. I personally look forward to working with the guys and making some positive changes.”

“Anything we can do to help, because I know we have these aging lines – and we get the infiltration from the aging lines,” Welch said. “The guys try to keep up as much as they can, but then they find a leak.”

Mang said, “Ultimately, it's going to cut costs for everyone, as well, in the long run. It’s going to lower treatment costs and just lower emergency calls and things that do cost us.”

Ritter said, “We're really trying to hit what we're calling the low-hanging fruit, which is manholes that are leaking real bad.

“A lot of water issues come from private property, and you just don't go on private property to inspect people's plumbing. So, things like putting in a sump pump is a way that we can control where the water goes.”

The board scheduled a public hearing on this matter for 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, at the Red Brick Municipal Building, 145 N. Fourth St.

Other news

•Also at Monday’s monthly meeting, trustees voted to approve the following Planning Commission appointments, as selected by Welch:

√ Jim Ullery, filling Doreen Albee’s unexpired term until June 2025.

√ Ashley Warren, filling Joseph Sorce’s unexpired term until June 2026.

√ Scott Lewandowski as an alternate member.

•Mang reminded residents that leaf pickup will continue until Dec. 6.