The Future of Water and Sewer: The example of Mountaindale

Now that the town’s Comprehensive Plan has been adopted (June 2018), we at FF believe it is important that the town board follow through on implementing a number of recommendations outlined in the plan that are needed to protect the environment and character of the town.

Fallsburg’s infrastructure is a central concern as the town rapidly adds new homes and developments each year and the water and sewer systems are a critical part of it. 

In an effort to understand how the town is preparing for the addition of hundreds of new homes each year, representatives of Fallsburg’s Future met with the town engineer, Will Illing in September. There are about 3000 plus new homes, some under construction and some with permits. Mr. Illing, who is retiring soon, has overseen the town’s sewer and water system for the past 25? years. 

Illing was forthcoming and expressed optimism about the capacity of the town to deal with growing water and sewer demands. We focused on the situation of the sewage treatment plant in Mountaindale, one of Fallsburg’s hamlets. He told us that approximately 200 new homes connect into the larger municipal system each year. Two large developments are scheduled to tie into the Mountaindale system, which was installed in the 1980s. Here are some highlights of the conversation.

FF:  Is the Mountaindale sewer treatment plant able to handle the development of the numerous housing developments, both current and future?

WI:  The Mountaindale has sufficient capacity to handle all needs as well as the summer extra input. There is a safety margin of approximately 50%.  The evaporation pool above the town has a 10 million gallon capacity.

FF:  What obligation do housing developers have to contribute financially to the Fallsburg water treatment system?

WI:  Each building or condo connected to the water and sewer system pays $1,800 for sewer and $578 for water.  In Mountain Dale, the Sapphire developers, for example, paid $471K for sewer and $150K for water hookups. Mountaindale Acres paid $665K for sewer and $211K for water.

FF:  Is the Mountaindale sewer treatment plant technologically up to date?

WI:  The plant uses an older technology, which is surprisingly efficient. Future plans will eliminate storage and water discharge into ground or Sandburg Creek.

FF:  What plans exist to upgrade or expand the current Mountain Dale sewer treatment plant?

WI:  There is a feasibility study to upgrade all the systems in Fallsburg. The planned upgrades to the Mountaindale plant have been deferred for one year.

FF feels that there are questions about development that should be considered. Given the increasing demand, and the growing religious community should the connection fees be raised to raise more income for maintenance and expansion of the sewer and water system. With 3000 plus homes in the pipeline as of 2018, how much more development can Fallsburg handle comfortably in the next few years?