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I am writing to raise public awareness on some issues involving the Town of Lansing sewer project. It appears that the current plan to process wastewater from the Town of Lansing at the Village of Cayuga Heights facility is far more costly than an alternative plan to build a small local plant on the Lake. The engineering firm, T. G. Miller, estimated (1998) the cost difference to be $6 million. It arises from the need for large, long distance transmission piping and associated pumping facilities to bring sewage from Lansing to Cayuga Heights. No one would support a plan that would negatively impact water quality in Cayuga Lake, however, I cannot think of any rational reason to proceed with the current plan. The regional and local plant options both call for the release of treated wastewater into Cayuga Lake. A new, local plant could purify effluent to the same quality level as achieved at the Cayuga Heights plant and would, by discharging to a deeper part of the Lake, be environmentally preferable.
It would appear that the only barrier to pursuing the lower cost option is the NYDEC, which insists that the sewage be treated at an existing plant, and threatens to withdraw funding if it is not. No one in local government (Town or Village of Lansing) seems able to fathom DEC logic, nor sway their decision, which appears to be purely political. Local residents have three options to affect the outcome here. They can do nothing, and the expensive plan will be followed at considerable cost to them. They can vote in referendum against the sewer project so it will not go forward at all, in the hope that some other source of State or Federal funding may become available. Or, if they feel that an affordable sewer system is needed now, they should contact their representatives to induce the DEC to reconsider funding the local plant option. I live in the Village of Lansing and am not directly impacted by this project except, perhaps, for the minor inconvenience of having the road torn up in front of my house to install transmission mains to Ithaca. I have become interested because no one else appears to be taking the initiative to change the direction of this ill-conceived project before it is too late. Sincerely, Tony Nekut
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