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WPCNR THE LETTER TICKER. From Paul Feiner, Greenburgh Town Supervisor. August 20, 2025:

The  Greenburg Town’s Engineering Department provided updates on the 100 E. Hartsdale Ave sewer repair project at Tuesday’s work session. The sewer break occurred over a year ago (around Memorial day 2024).  You can watch the full update here: https://youtu.be/B6HMeOcyvTw

In summary, both stress the complications and sensitivity of such a job and the need for safety and precision.

The project is extremely costly (approx. $10-$16M estimates), for which the department is applying for various state grants.

The first was a $9M request from a Water Quality Improvement Grant that was due at the end of July and would cover a substantial part of the work. The Engineering Department believes the project is a great candidate for this grant since it involves lining sewage pipe from 100 E. Hartsdale to the Four Corners, an area that is in a floodplain and experiences both inflow (rain water) and outflow (sewage) problems and impacts water quality.

The second grant is due in September and targets aging infrastructure, which also makes this project competitive. The reward would provide up to a 25% match, which could be as much as $4M for this project.

Aging infrastructure is a problem throughout, not just in Greenburgh but regionally, statewide, in fact across the country, as we all face unprecedented storms that come with climate charge. Drainage systems are outdated but also were never designed with the 100 or 500 storms in mind that we now get regularly. We will always have flooding, but a number of studies and mitigation efforts are being made, to alleviate the effects as much as possible. The Engineering Department also indicated that the Town is currently conducting a flood mitigation study and looking for areas to help minimize flooding.

In terms of this project, the sewer break is extremely atypical. To the question of why this project is this long: the typical sewer break might be 5-8 feet deep in the middle of an easily accessible roadway with an 8 inch pipe. This break is 35 feet deep, alongside/under a 60 year old building, involving 90 year old piping that is twice as large, 16 inches. The attempt to fix in place was determined to be too risky and hard to access so the line will likely be rerouted. The sewage has been temporarily diverted with a pumping system.

There are multiple tracks the team is working on simultaneously. For one, applying for funding. The original design team, Collier’s Engineering, has been brought on to design a permanent rerouting plan to go around the building instead of under. The main line is about 80% designed but there’s still a significant amount of design work needed to figure out how to reconnect the building’s service line to the relocated sewer main. At the same time, an RFP is out for the exploratory work, to ensure there isn’t a better alternative the designers may have overlooked.

There are many players in this planning, and our engineers and attorneys meet to ensure we’re on the same page with the building’s team. “We’re all working towards the same goal,” members of the team said.

The department is also talking with the Town Comptroller about upcoming capital budget planning and ensuring extra funds are made available for these continuing repairs and planning. In general, most of the town’s neighborhoods (Babbitt Court ,Fulton Park, Saw Mill River area, Troublesome and Manhattan brooks, Sheldon, Hartsdale Brook) are involved in some project or study to mitigate flooding.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE SEWER BREAK—WE SHOULD INCLUDE AN ANNUAL CAPITAL BUDGET ALLOCATION FOR RELINING AGING UNDERGROUND PIPING

Our sewer system is old. The sewer break that happened on E Hartsdale Ave involved a sewer close to a century old!

There are other old sewer pipes around town. A Town sewer main maintenance program would consist of cleaning, camera inspection, and where necessary bypassing and epoxy lining of underground sanitary sewer pipes and manholes.

An annual budget of $1,500,000 would fund the rehabilitation of approximately 1,000 linear feet of sewer pipe and their associated manholes, depending on their size and condition.

Relining aging underground piping can extend its life expectancy  25-50 years, depending on the condition of the host pipe.

The process is also less expensive and invasive than traditional pipe replacement due to the significantly reduced excavation required. This leads to less disturbance to properties and other utilities while minimizing erosion and traffic interruptions.  We could seek grants each year from NYS to increase the amount of sewer pipes that we will line each year.  Could reduce the number of breaks in the future.

PAUL FEINER
Greenburgh Town Supervisor