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Engineer outlines low‑pressure sewer design to connect lakeshore properties to Aurora treatment plant; county district formation anticipated
Summary
MRB engineer Tim Carpenter described a low‑pressure sewer plan to serve about 450 lakefront homes between the village of Aurora and the Tompkins County line, said design work is underway and said the engineering team will ask the Legislature to form a county sewer district after the mapping and plan report are complete.
Tim Carpenter, an engineer with MRB out of Rochester, updated the Legislature on a design for a low‑pressure sewer system to serve shoreline properties along Cayuga Lake between the village of Aurora and the Tompkins County line.
Carpenter said the system would connect roughly 450 homes and cottages that now rely on septic or holding tanks to the village of Aurora wastewater treatment plant. The design work is under way and MRB expects to complete the mapping and plan report by midyear so the county can submit funding applications and, if appropriate, ask the Legislature to form a county sewer district that would encompass multiple towns along the lake.
Carpenter said the village of Aurora supports the plan because additional flow would provide revenue and improve the economics of the village treatment plant. He said the project team is meeting with the towns of Ledyard and Genoa to explain how shoreline strips in those towns would be affected. Carpenter noted grant opportunities exist that commonly cover 40–50% of construction costs for water and sewer projects and said MRB will pursue those programs with May deadlines for some applications.
Public‑environmental benefit: the engineering team emphasized the project could reduce nitrogen and phosphorus inputs from failing septic systems and holding tanks to Cayuga Lake, providing a long‑term water‑quality benefit similar to concerns raised earlier in the meeting regarding Owasco Lake.
Next steps: Carpenter said the MRB team will present the mapping and plan report to the Legislature, then seek authorization to form a county sewer district; the project’s financial viability will depend on final design costs and grant awards, and affected property owners would have an opportunity to vote on the district and associated assessments.
The presentation was informational; MRB and county staff invited legislators to tour the shoreline to see right‑of‑way constraints and site conditions.
