Project History

In February 2022, the Livingston County Board of Supervisors authorized the Authority to develop a water supply project to benefit the communities impacted by the AkzoNobel salt mine collapse. These municipalities are primarily the Towns of Leicester and York and secondarily the Towns of Geneseo, Mt. Morris and Avon.

As a result, the Authority proposed a project to achieve the County’s interest in providing enhanced public drinking water infrastructure for the Towns of Leicester, as well as supporting regional interests of providing greater access to affordable safe drinking water for multiple municipalities including the Towns of Mt. Morris, York, Lima, Avon and the Villages of Leicester, Mt. Morris and Avon.

Throughout 2023 and 2024, the Authority worked with its municipal partners to finalize the project scope, which included improved pump stations, the installation of approximately 25 miles of new transmission and distribution piping, and a new water storage tank. Additionally, the project provides for improved interconnections between existing Authority water distribution system and multiple partnering agencies, including the NYS Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, for Letchworth State Park.

In September 2024, the Authority was awarded a $1,000,000 grant for the project from the New York State Local Government Efficiency grant program, through the New York State Department of State.

In November 2024, the Authority was awarded a $14,320,000 grant for the project from the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation Intermunicipal Grant program.

In July 2025, the Authority was awarded a $1,000,000 grant for the project from the Northern Border Regional Commission grant program, a Federal-State partnership for economic and community development in northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York.

The most recent updates to the project, include transmission main routes that provide public water to households in the Town of Leicester that have been negatively impacted by the salt mine collapse and new interconnections to partnering municipalities, including the ability to serve all of the Impacted Communities (Towns of Avon, Geneseo, Mt. Morris, Leicester and York) with a new independent water source. Total project costs are estimated to be $35,800,000.

The project is currently under design and construction is expected to start in 2027.

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