Thanks to Mike Albro, Plant manager for YAWS Environmental, and a lovely sunny mid November afternoon we were treated to a guided tour of the Cayuga Heights Waste Water Treatment Plant. For years we have been posting information and speaking on the upgrades going on at the plant. Thursday November 20th was the culmination of all the planning, budgeting and coordinating. A moment to stop and celebrate a job well done!
The running and maintaining of the plant is of utmost importance to the every day life here in the Village and to some in surrounding municipalities. Needless to say the Mayor, Trustees, and related staff take the operating of this shared infrastructure very seriously and it is for this reason that this five year project was begun; not just for today but also for the future of the Village.
The project that has taken five years to complete started in June of 2019 with phase 1. The Board of Trustees voted to approve the contract with Blue Heron for the replacement of the headworks. The headworks is the first step of the treatment process that includes a screen that catches debris larger than 3/8″, and a vortex that separates heavier debris such as sand and stones and other items that could damage downstream equipment. Work concluded in the spring of 2021.
Phase 2 followed shortly afterwards. This phase included the digester covers, new pipes and pumps. The covers on both sludge digestors were replaced. Also plantwide electrical equipment was brought up to fire and building code. Lighting was replaced with LEDs and a new interactive computer monitoring system known as SCADA was installed. SCADA helps monitor many aspects of the plant allowing for better awareness for the employees of problems, leading to a quicker response time.
Although the full Phase 3 project did not receive NYSDEC funding, a smaller project aka Phase 2.1 was undertaken without funding because some of the Phase 3 tasks could not wait for future funding opportunities. This phase included replacement of three trickling filter pumps, replacement of two trickling filter distributor arm seals, and most recently the replacement of the sludge collection system (aka rail system) on the three primary and two final settling tanks. Work on this was still going on as our tour was taking place.
The combined cost of all of the work done to the WWTP in the last five years is approximately $14,000,000, of which the Village received approximately $3,000,000 from the NYSDEC Water Infrastructure Improvement Grant.
This project was a tremendous undertaking with a lot of moving parts but one that was very necessary to ensure many more years of smooth operations. Thank you to all involved in securing the grant, coordinating the work, and keeping the operation of the plant running smoothly amidst these changes. And thank you Mike and Brent for the very thorough tour!
