The Town of Springwater is advancing a major wastewater infrastructure improvement project to address longstanding operational and regulatory challenges at the Town’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). The facility serves approximately 200 customers within the Springwater Hamlet and discharges treated effluent to Springwater Creek, which ultimately flows to Hemlock Lake – a critical regional drinking water supply that supports the City of Rochester and surrounding communities.

The Town’s wastewater collection system was originally constructed between 2007 and 2009 and utilizes a low-pressure sewer system with grinder pump stations that convey wastewater to the WWTP on Kellogg Road. Prior to 2021, the Town operated a hybrid treatment system consisting of septic tanks and a constructed wetland treatment process. In 2021, the Town completed upgrades to the facility that replaced the wetland treatment system with a recirculating media filter treatment process. While these improvements were intended to bring the facility into compliance with permit requirements, the current treatment system has continued to experience significant operational and treatment challenges.

For more than a decade, the Town has struggled with chronic violations of its State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit. The facility has been subject to multiple New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) Orders on Consent due to recurring exceedances for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), fecal coliform, and ammonia. Operational issues with the current treatment process have included sludge buildup, excessive maintenance demands, freezing concerns, inadequate solids separation, and inconsistent treatment performance. The Town and the Livingston County Water and Sewer Authority (LCWSA) have implemented numerous operational improvements in recent years to stabilize the system while evaluating long-term corrective actions.

In 2025, the Town completed a comprehensive engineering evaluation of alternatives to address the facility’s ongoing compliance and operational deficiencies. After reviewing multiple options, the recommended solution is the replacement of the existing recirculating media filter system with a new Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) wastewater treatment system. The SBR alternative was selected because of its proven reliability, operational flexibility, ability to handle variable flows and loadings, and improved capability to consistently meet SPDES permit requirements.

The proposed project includes construction of new SBR treatment tanks, a new influent pumping station, upgraded headworks screening equipment, sludge handling and drying facilities, chemical feed improvements, and modernization of the facility’s SCADA monitoring system. The project will also reuse portions of the existing infrastructure where practical, including the existing septic tanks for emergency equalization storage, the UV disinfection system, and the operations building. Additional improvements will include