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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlan Appendix B10 Municipal Services Town  of Ithaca 2014 Comprehensive Plan B‐108 B.10  Municipal services and infrastructure  B.10.1 Water  supply  Public water in the Town is supplied by three entities: the Southern Cayuga Lake Intermunicipal Water Commission (locally referred to as Bolton Point and which supplies water from Cayuga Lake); the City of Ithaca (which provides water from the Upper Reservoir on Six Mile Creek); and Cornell University Water Filtration Plant (which uses Fall Creek). Some residents living along Taughannock Blvd/NY 89 are still served by the City of Ithaca. 40 Forest Home residents and the Cornell University campus are served by the University water system, and some Town residents are served by private wells in rural areas. However, the vast majority of the Town is served by Bolton Point (see Water service areas Map). While the three entities operate independently from one another, emergency agreements and multiple permanent interconnecting valves located throughout the system ensure emergency backup water supplies. Bolton Point Water  System: treatment and distribution  The Bolton Point water plant was constructed in 1976. Before this time, public water in the Town of Ithaca was provided by the City of Ithaca, which also served the Varna area of the Town of Dryden and the Village of Cayuga Heights. By 1972, demand for city water was approaching 6 million gallons per day (MGD), surpassing the amount of water the city system could supply under drought conditions, which had been experienced in the mid-1960s. The City of Ithaca, wary of added demand upon its system, declared a moratorium on the number of new water connections outside the City. In 1974, the Towns of Ithaca, Lansing, and Dryden and the Village of Cayuga Heights formed the Southern Cayuga Lake Intermunicipal Water Commission to develop a water plant on Cayuga Lake (the Village of Lansing joined in 1975).60 The facility, jointly owned by the five municipalities, is overseen by a Commission made up of two representatives (one of whom must be an elected official) from each municipality. The commission via a cooperation agreement makes decisions on various aspects of the facility from expansion decisions, operating costs, debt retirement, and personnel. Each municipality retains ownership of the distribution system within its borders and has responsibility for system maintenance and in establishing their own water rate structure. There are three basic elements of the Bolton Point water system: (1) the intake system, (2) the water treatment plant, and (3) the transmission system. 60 Bolton Point website, http://www.boltonpoint.org/PopUps/ourhistory.html, accessed 1 August 2011.  Christopher Circle water tank.    Town  of Ithaca 2014 Comprehensive Plan B‐109 Water  service areas | Town  of Ithaca Town  of Ithaca 2014 Comprehensive Plan B‐110 The intake system consists of a 36-inch diameter intake pipe that stretches 400 feet into Cayuga Lake to a depth of 60 feet, and the raw water pump station located on the shore. The raw water pump station has three pumps, with a combined rated capacity of 9 MGD. With the construction of additional filters and two pump systems, its capacity can be increased to 12 MGD; the original plans allow for a maximum expansion of the system to 24 MGD. From the lakeshore pump station, there is a 20-inch diameter pipe running from the pump station up to the water treatment plant on East Shore Drive, a rise of about 270 feet and a distance of about 1,800 feet. The water treatment plant contains a chemical storage room, flocculation tanks, settling tanks, filter tanks, storage well, a control room, and a pump room. The pump room has three pumps that raise the water another 360 feet to the Burdick Hill storage tank; a distance of approximately 3200 feet. The plant is designed to process 9 MGD of water, and its capacity can easily be increased to 12 MGD or more. Provision has been made for the eventual expansion of the system to 24 MGD.61 The transmission system is made up of the Burdick Hill storage tank of 1.5 million gallons capacity, the Oakcrest Road pump station (in the Village of Lansing), and over 10 miles of 16-inch to 20-inch transmission pipeline running from the treatment plant through East Ithaca to its termination point at the Pearsall Place pump station on South Hill. The transmission lines provide water to the five municipal systems, from which each municipality operates and maintains distribution lines that serve their individual customers. Town  of Ithaca:  distribution system  The Town operates and maintains all of the distribution system for Bolton Point supplied water within its municipal boundary. The Water service areas map indicates the areas in the Town that are served. The Town’s varied topography plays a large role in the complexity of this water delivery system and necessitates numerous water tanks and pump stations throughout the served area. Service areas are established by the elevation of the water storage tanks and the ground topography. The service area boundaries are essentially defined by the specified ranges of acceptable water pressure that are maintained by each tank. Approximately 72% of residential properties in the Town (outside of the Village of Cayuga Heights) with existing dwellings have access to public water. Of those served, 7% are non-residential users and 93% are residential users. Average daily consumption rates (based on billing records) are 131 gallons/day for residential usage and 3,607 gallons/day for non-residential usage. The Town of Ithaca’s water distribution system consists of 12 water storage tanks and nine pump stations. The Water supply tanks table provides information on Town-owned and maintained water tanks. Until recently, the City of Ithaca supplied water to the Inlet Valley and West Hill areas of the Town of Ithaca. Problems with water pressure fluctuation, fire fighting flow, and the City’s aging infrastructure led the Town to look for a way to bring Bolton Point water to these areas. In 2001 the Town embarked on a series of system improvements to make that happen. Modifications included:  A 16-inch transmission pipe was installed from Pearsall Road control station to Danby Road, with connection to an existing eight inch line to the Danby Road tank and Ithaca College.  A 12-inch line was laid from Danby Road tank to Buttermilk Falls State Park using an existing abandoned railroad bed.  A 250,000 gallon tank was installed on Bostwick Road to supply water to the distribution grid at Inlet Valley. 61 Bolton Point Water System website, http://www.boltonpoint.org/aboutus.html, accessed 1 August 2011    Town  of Ithaca 2014 Comprehensive Plan B‐111  A one million gallon tank (West Hill tank) was place near Mecklenburg Road at EcoVillage.  A pump station was placed on Coy Glen Road to pump water uphill to the new West Hill Tank; an existing 12- inch line connected the West Hill tank with the Trumansburg Road Tank. In addition, in 2006 a new three million gallon tank was placed near Hungerford Hill Road as part of improvements to the existing transmission system. The new East Hill transmission tank, which acts as a reservoir for the system and does not directly supply customers, enables Bolton Point to pump water at night to this tank, using off-peak electric rates. In the daytime the transmission system delivers water to the East Hill, South Hill, Inlet Valley and West Hill distribution grids and is filled at night. In case of a power outage or fire, the East Hill Tank reinforces the transmission system with a two day supply of water. Future planned improvements of the water system are aimed at addressing the aging system, with specific plans for replacing and rehabilitating several of the older water tanks. Water  supply tanks | Town  of Ithaca  Region Tank  name Year  built Capacity Customers * Average use **  Northeast Christopher Circle 1959 500,000 gal 400 80,000 gal/d Sapsucker Woods  1959 500,000 gal 520 110,000 gal/d East Hill  Pine Tree  1954 200,000 gal 442 160,000 gal/d Hungerford Hill 1970 500,000 gal 219 60,000 gal/d East Hill Transmission Tank  2003 3,000,000 gal Does not directly serve customers South Hill  Ridgecrest 1968 500,000 gal 399 80,000 gal/d Troy  1968 160,000 gal 129 50,000 gal/d Danby (serves Ithaca College) 1954 500,000 gal 17 352,000 gal/d Northview 1954 200,000 gal 200 60,000 gal/d Inlet Valley  Bostwick 2003 200,000 gal 120 33,000 gal/d West  Hill Trumansburg  1932*** 500,000 gal 151 152,000 gal/d West Hill 2003 1,000,000 gal 125 50,000 gal/d Total    2,722 1,187,000 gal/d *  2007.  Refers to water meter count, not actual number of consumers. **  2007.  Based on distribution meter readings at each tank supply line.  Readings taken weekly.  Figures reflect customer use  and do not include additional pass‐through water that supplies neighboring tanks.    *** Rehabilitated in 2006.  City of Ithaca water system: treatment and distribution    The City of Ithaca Water Treatment Plant (WTP) has been serving customers in the City of Ithaca and portions of the Town of Ithaca since 1903. The plant serves over 35,000 customers and on average treats 3.27 million gallons of water daily. Water is drawn from the Six Mile Creek reservoir in the Town of Ithaca (just north of Burns Road) and flows by gravity to the WTP in the City on Water Street. After treatment, finished water is distributed to the public through a distribution network consisting of roughly 85 miles of ductile iron and cast iron water mains. The distribution system includes three pumping stations and six water storage tanks.62 Due to the age of the City WTP and the impending changes in water quality regulations, the City has proposed to rebuild the existing 7 MGD WTP with a 6 MGD plant on the current Water Street site. The source of water would continue to be the City’s existing Six Mile Creek supply impounded by the 60-foot dam. Raw (untreated) water 62 City of Ithaca, Water Treatment Plant website, http://www.ci.ithaca.ny.us/departments/dpw/water/wtp.cfm. accessed 15 August  2011.  Town  of Ithaca 2014 Comprehensive Plan B‐112 would continue to flow by gravity from the reservoir to the new WTP through the City’s existing 24-inch diameter cast iron pipeline. The proposal will require a number of modifications in the vicinity of the water intake at the 60- foot reservoir; construction of facilities, security monitoring, upgrade of the access road to allow year-round access, reservoir dredging, and so on.63 Cornell University water system:  treatment and distribution  Cornell University owns and maintains its own potable water system, which serves the campus and portions of the surrounding community. The Cornell Water Filtration Plant (WFP); originally constructed in 1929, serves a population of 35,000: students, faculty, academic and non-academic employees, residents of the hamlet of Forest Home, and a portion of the City of Ithaca. The Cornell WFP produces an average of up to 1.7 MGD to meet the needs of its customers. Upon reaching the plant, water is treated with sodium hypochlorite for disinfection and polyaluminum chloride for sediment removal. The treatment process begins with the rapid mixing of coagulants followed by flocculation and sedimentation. The water is then filtered, disinfected, and pumped to a 1.0 million gallon and a 1.5 million gallon water storage tank. From these tanks, water is distributed to the campus via a network of piping that is approximately 120 miles long.64 Current daily average consumption is 1.5 to 1.7 MGD. Even though the campus building square footage has almost doubled, water conservation measures have led to a reduction in consumption from a high of 3.0 MDG in the early 1970s. Strategies like requiring low-flow fixtures in campus buildings, district cooling, and improved lab practices have contributed to the savings. Cornell’s water system is fully metered and water usage can be tracked for most campus buildings online; information is available to the public on the facilities services Web site.65 B.10.2 Wastewater  The Town of Ithaca is a single townwide sewer district, although not all lands in the Town have access to municipal sewer. There are six distinct geographic service areas within the Town that have approximately 3,200 connections. The West Hill collection system serves properties on and adjacent to Trumansburg Road, Dubois Road, Woolf Lane, Bundy Road, Mecklenburg Road, Westhaven Road, and Elm Street. The sewer mains along these highway corridors connect to jointly owned interceptor pipes in the City. The three interceptors converge near the Buffalo Street Bridge at the Flood Relief Channel. A combination of gravity and low-pressure (siphon) piping convey flow over and under the Channel, respectively. Lakefront parcels along Taughannock Boulevard (from the City boundary to the Town of Ulysses’ border) are also served by a Town sewer main. The Taughannock Boulevard main connects to a jointly owned interceptor pipe and pump station in Cass Park. A force main from the pump station extends beneath the Cayuga Inlet to Pier Road. The Inlet Valley system extends from a jointly owned interceptor on Floral Avenue and serves parcels along Five Mile Drive, Seven Mile Drive, Elmira Road, and Enfield Falls Road. A siphon beneath the Flood Relief Channel discharges to a pump station in the Cherry Street industrial park. 63 City of Ithaca Water Supply Project SEQR draft scoping document, 22 June 2007.  64 Cornell University Facilities Services Energy and Sustainability website,   http://energyandsustainability.fs.cornell.edu/util/water/drinking/distribution.cfm, accessed 12 August 2011.  65 Building Utility Use  and Costs History, http://energyandsustainability.fs.cornell.edu/em/bldgenergy/history.cfm    Town  of Ithaca 2014 Comprehensive Plan B‐113 Sewer service areas | Town  of Ithaca Town  of Ithaca 2014 Comprehensive Plan B‐114 Sewer mains throughout the South Hill neighborhoods converge at jointly owned interceptors in the City of Ithaca on Aurora Street, Hudson Street, and Crescent Place. The Danby Road corridor serves most of Ithaca College, the South Hill Business Campus, and the commercial uses in the vicinity of the West King Road intersection. The collection system along Coddington Road serves a limited number of residential customers between the City of Ithaca boundary and West Northview Road. Therm, Inc. and residential neighborhoods in the vicinity of Pennsylvania Avenue, Northview Road, Troy Road and East King Road (Southwoods, Deer Run, and Chase Lane developments) connect to the interceptor at Crescent Place. The East Hill system includes extensions of jointly owned interceptors on East State Street/Slaterville Road (from the City of Ithaca boundary to Burns Road) and on Mitchell Street from the City of Ithaca boundary to Summerhill Lane. Collection pipes serving residential and institutional uses on Pine Tree Road, Honness Lane, Snyder Hill Road, and the Eastern Heights neighborhood connect to the Slaterville Road interceptor. Commercial and high density residential properties surrounding the East Hill Plaza discharge through the Mitchell Street interceptor. The Northeast system includes the Town’s sewer infrastructure in the vicinity of the Warren Road and Hanshaw Road corridors north of the Cornell University Campus. Sewage from the residential and institutional properties is ultimately discharged into the Village of Cayuga Heights collection system and treated at the Village of Cayuga Heights Wastewater Treatment Plant. The Lake Street system includes gravity collection mains along Lake Street and throughout the Renwick Heights neighborhood; they extend from an interceptor sewer at the Ithaca High School. The East Shore Drive properties, including a few City parcels adjacent to Stewart Park, drain to a pump station which lifts sewage to the Lake Street main. There are also many portions of the West Hill and South Hill areas that do not have access to the municipal sewer and use private septic systems to handle their waste. Village of Cayuga Heights Wastewater  Treatment  Plant  The WTP for the Village of Cayuga Heights is a trickling filter plant with tertiary phosphorus removal. It treats flow from the Village of Cayuga Heights, the northeast portion of the Town of Ithaca, parts of the Village and Town of Lansing and the Town of Dryden. The wastewater collection system is a gravity system and is operating at 1.477 MGD of a permitted 2.0 MGD maximum 30-day flow. The plant has been upgraded to improve the phosphorus removal capability. All of the capacity is owned by the Village and is allocated to neighboring municipalities by contract. The recent activation of the Kline Road bypass in the Village of Cayuga Heights collection system directs a portion of the volume of sewage for Town of Ithaca customers in Northeast Ithaca to the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility. Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment  Facility  The Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Plant is jointly owned and operated by the City of Ithaca, Town of Ithaca, and Town of Dryden. The maximum 30-day flow through the facility in 2008 was 9.83 MGD (approximately 75% of the 13.0 MGD permit limit). The surplus capacity of 3.17 MGD is owned in varying percentages by the three municipalities, with the Town of Ithaca owning approximately 1.181 MGD of the surplus capacity. Sewage generated in the Town of Ithaca is transported to the plant via portions of the City’s sewer system.66 66 Countywide Inter‐municipal Water and Sewer Feasibility Study for Tompkins  County, T.G. Miller, P.C., Stearns & Wheler, and John M.  Andersson, P.E., 31 March 2010.    Town  of Ithaca 2014 Comprehensive Plan B‐115 B.10.3 Stormwater  Until relatively recently, the primary objective for municipalities managing stormwater was to control the quantity of it. Because this often posed problems for downstream locations, stormwater management evolved into the use of detention facilities to delay the rate and flow of runoff downstream. The 1993 Comprehensive Plan described just four detention facilities that existed at that time, including only one publicly owned stormwater management facility, constructed in conjunction with the DeWitt Middle School. With recent involvement from the Federal and State governments as a result of amendments to the Clean Water Act, municipal management of stormwater runoff has significantly evolved with a major focus now aimed at water quality. This broadening of the concept of stormwater management has brought about elaborate new techniques for controlling and treating stormwater runoff-- and has also brought about a host of new responsibilities for the Town of Ithaca, including oversight for an expanding number and variety of stormwater management facilities Beginning in 2003, the Town of Ithaca and many other municipalities in Tompkins County were mandated to comply with Federal and State water quality regulations, commonly referred to as the Stormwater Phase II Program. These regulations administered by the NYS DEC required all regulated municipalities to obtain a permit from the DEC for the discharge of stormwater runoff into surface waters. As a condition of this permit, regulated municipalities were required to develop and implement a comprehensive stormwater management program that included mandated programs and practices for the following elements:67  Conduct outreach and education about polluted stormwater runoff.  Provide opportunities for residents to be involved in conversations and activities related to stormwater management.  Detect illicit discharges, such as a pipe dumping directly into a stream.  Control construction site runoff.  Control post-construction runoff.  Perform "municipal housekeeping" by taking steps to prevent runoff from municipal grounds and activities. 67 Stormwater Management Guidance Manual for Local Officials, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and NYS Department  of State, September 2004.  Stormwater inlet on Winthrop Drive, part of a larger drainage improvement  project in Northeast Ithaca.  Town  of Ithaca 2014 Comprehensive Plan B‐116 To comply with these regulations, the Town adopted a Stormwater Management and Erosion and Sedimentation Control Law in 2008. The law requires the installation of temporary erosion control measures at construction sites and the construction of permanent onsite stormwater treatment and control facilities at many new building sites meeting certain thresholds. The Town of Ithaca is required to review and approve Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPP) plans and designs for controlling runoff and pollutants resulting from these projects, as well as for conducting regular inspections of the temporary erosion control measures used during construction activities. The Town is also required to monitor and perform periodic inspections of permanent stormwater management facilities to ensure that they are regularly maintained and continue to function as they were designed for in perpetuity. As required by NYS DEC, the Town maintains an inventory of all permanent stormwater management facilities in the Town. The current inventory (as of 2012) includes 40 permanent stormwater facilities. These include stormwater wetlands (created), bioretention ponds, swales, sand filters, and rain gardens. Most facilities are privately owned and maintained. Owners of permanent stormwater facilities are required to enter into an operation, maintenance and reporting agreement with the Town, specifying that current and future owners of land containing stormwater facilities are responsible for future operation, maintenance, and repair to ensure that they continue to function for their designed purpose. The agreement reserves the right for the Town to access and conduct inspections of stormwater facilities. If deficiencies are found and not remedied, the Town reserves the right to have repairs performed at owner expense. The Town also adopted an illicit discharge detection and elimination law in 2008. The Storm Sewer System and Surface Water Protection Law is intended to prohibit non-stormwater discharges (pollutants) from entering the stormwater conveyance system. Illicit discharges can inadvertently enter the stormwater system from failing septic systems, or they can intentionally enter the system through illegal dumping of material (e.g. used motor oil) into storm drains or ditches. To implement this law, the Town has developed and continues to update a map of its entire stormwater conveyance system. The Town is required to inspect a portion of this system annually. The Town is a partner in the Stormwater Coalition of Tompkins County. This intermunicipal organization was created in 2003 to provide a means for regulated communities in Tompkins County to work collectively to meet the goals of the NYS DEC’s stormwater management requirements. The Coalition is composed of 10 Tompkins County municipalities along with ex-officio members, including the Tompkins County Soil and Water District which provides technical and administrative assistance. Among its many benefits, the Coalition sponsors trainings and various public outreach efforts to educate the public about the impacts of pollutants and stormwater runoff. Implementation of Federal and State stormwater regulations has increased the role of the Town in managing stormwater impacts. These regulations mandate compliance but offer very little in the way of assistance, leaving the Town and other local municipalities on their own to find and allocate resources to implement the program. Funding and staffing needs will need to be carefully examined so the Town meets the challenges of implementing evolving regulatory requirements, and of ensuring that ever- expanding stormwater infrastructure is adequately maintained. B.10.4 Road maintenance  There are approximately 121 miles of roads in the Town, of which 50 are owned and maintained by the Town of Ithaca. The roads owned by the Town are maintained by the Town Public Works Department. The latter is responsible for paving and repairs, winter maintenance (plowing and salting), roadside mowing (where needed to keep the area clear and provide adequate site distance for road users), catch basin and ditch cleaning and repairs, and other road maintenance duties. Public Works Department also plows and salts sections of State and County roads through shared agreements with these entities.   Town  of Ithaca 2014 Comprehensive Plan B‐117 The Village of Cayuga Heights maintains its own roads except for a few small sections maintained by the Town. Cornell University and Ithaca College build and maintain most of their own internal roads.