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Vacant lot on Grand Avenue that is under consideration for construction of CSO facility
Vacant lot on Grand Avenue that is under consideration for construction of CSO facility

Diminishing CSOs along Harbor Brook


 

Harbor Brook is a long stream. It begins in the Town of Onondaga and flows through the west side of Syracuse before it empties in Onondaga Lake. About 1200 acres of its drainage basin are subject to the effects of eighteen combined sewer overflows (CSOs).

Onondaga County is now planning to construct abatement facilities that will reduce the effects of CSOs in the Harbor Brook basin. The facilities will improve water quality both in Harbor Brook and Onondaga Lake.

Facility plans and environmental document

The initial draft Harbor Brook facility plan was released in March 2002. It outlined and evaluated technologies and sites for facilities to abate and treat the CSOs.

The facility plan was revised, and the current Harbor Brook CSO Abatement Project Facility Plan (Aug 2005) analyzes alternative sites and technologies for managing the water quality effects of CSOs in the Harbor Brook basin. The evaluation of these alternatives is based on engineering and operational considerations, environmental and community effects, and cost. A companion document, the Harbor Brook Environmental Information Document (Aug 2005), addresses potential environmental effects.

Documents available

Harbor Brook watershed
Harbor Brook watershed

 Facility Plan
 Environmental Information Document
 Route change for pipelines
 Public hearing transcript & responses

Recommended facilities

The Facility Plan recommends two regional treatment facilities and floatables control facilities:
 

Upper basin   A regional treatment facility would manage CSOs in this area (CSOs 014-078). The facility will be designed to handle a peak flow over 4 million gallons per hour.
 

Middle basin   Floatable control facilities will manage the CSOs here (CSOs 009-013).
 

Lower basin   Both a regional treatment facility and floatables control facility would be used in this part of the Harbor Brook basin. CSOs 005-008, 003, and 004 would be consolidated and sent to the regional treatment facility. This facility will be designed to handle a peak flow of 5½ million gallons per hour. In addition, a floatables control facility would be added to CSO 036.

The project cost for this approach was estimated at $55.2 million in 2005. The land identified for the sites of the storage and treatment facilities is vacant and privately owned. Execution of this project is complicated by the presence of chemical contamination near the mouth of Harbor Brook.

Design contracts finalized

The County finalized the design contracts for the Harbor Brook project. EEA was awarded the design services contract (all design services) for the regional treatment facilities. CDM/C&S was awarded the design contract for the conveyances associated with the project.

Current activities (April 2007)

Progress on the Harbor Brook RTF project is proceeding on two fronts:
 
Conveyance-related work RTF-related work
Continued work on 95% design.
 
Continued work on geotechnical report including micro-tunneling design.
 
Continued work on easement and property acquisition activities.
Design review meeting with NYS DEC on the 50% design on both Upper and Lower Basin RTFs was held on April 26, 2007.

Public input

In February 2003, a series of public meetings were held to discuss sewer improvements in the Harbor Brook area. The following is a notice about the meetings:
 Information meetings about Harbor Brook project

In 2005, public information meetings and a public hearing were held to solicit input on the project:
 Responses from Onondaga County: Sept 14-15, 2005 public information meetings
 Notice of public hearing
 Responses: Public hearing, Dec 6, 2005
 Transcript: Public hearing, Dec 6, 2005

Conveyance route changes

After the September public meeting, engineers under contract to Onondaga County developed alternate alignments for the conveyance piping in the lower basin and upper basin:
 
 Conveyance route changes


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Susan Miller, Project Deputy Director
Phone 315-435-2260   Fax 315-435-5023
 Onondaga County Dept of Water Environment Protection