There may be fewer sewer overflows in times of heavy rains this summer in the Southtowns. That positive development will follow the completion of upgrades to the county's sewer treatment plant.
It's part of a $16 million project to end overflows into Blasdell's Rush Creek, when rain overloads the sewage system. Instead, the plant is being expanded to treat more sewage, especially when the pipes load up from rain.
"The upgrades at the South Towns plant will be done, I believe, by the end of this Spring," said Sewerage Management Division Deputy Commissioner Joseph Fiegl.
"That will have a positive impact in that we will have full capacity for any flows that come at us. There will be incremental type of benefits but the full completion of the project I do not anticipate to be done until the end of this year."
The remaining big part is a sewer line to be bored under nearby railroad tracks to tie together sewage flows from the Rush Creek watershed and into the treatment plant. That can't be done until railroad companies have approved the plans.
