Sewer District Completion (2014 LGAA)

Village of Fair Haven
County: Cayuga County
Population: Less than 5,000
Village Hall: (315) 529-0093

The Village of Fair Haven worked with the Cayuga County Water and Sewer Authority to install a regional wastewater collection throughout the Village and a portion of the Town of Sterling to comply with a 1991 consent order by the NYS DEC. The wastewater is sent to and treated by a regional treatment plant in Wayne County.

Little Sodus Bay is a fragile economic asset to Fair Haven. All of the properties in the Village have previously been served by private disposal systems consisting of septic tanks, leach fields or holding tanks. The county established an inspection and pump out law to protect Little Sodus Bay. The sewer system eliminates the need to do this expensive operation, eliminates the need to replace a failed system and protects the primary tourist attraction from pollution. The Village previously subsidized the inspection fees for residents to encourage property owners to hook to the sewer. Currently over half of the properties have hooked up to the sewer and the need to cut weeds in the bay has decreased by over 50%.

The plant serves a school district, a prison, two villages and towns and one bay. A second bay and village are scheduled to come on-line within the next few years.

The water quality of Little Sodus Bay is so important to the tourists and summer residents that the degradation over the years threatened the property values and the business communities profits. The sewers will foster long-term improvement in that water quality. The DEC consent order had a multi-million dollar fine which was suspended pending installation of a wastewater collection system. That threat has been removed with the systems installation.

Grants were received from Rural Development, CDBG and EPA for 75% of the cost. Cooperation between the Village, Town, Cayuga County, Cayuga County and Wayne County Water and Sewer Authorities permitted the project to be completed $1.4 million under initial estimate. The Wayne County Water and Sewer Authorities regional treatment plant is being utilized to treat effluent, saving close to an additional $1 million.