WPCNR THE SEWER REPORT. By John F. Bailey. April 25, 2007: According to the Commissioner of Environmental Facilities for Westchester County, the sewage backups in the White Plains Beverly Road/Gedney area were caused by a 20-inch diameter White Plains local sewer pipe draining into a smaller 16-18 inch county sewer trunkline in the vicinity of Beverly Road.
Anthony Landi told WPCNR the City of White Plains was aware of this condition for some time before the April 15 sewerage backup on Beverly Road and that White Plains was in the process of looking at the pipe disparity with the county to correct the step-down in diameter condition prior to the April 15 deluge. On that day, White Plains was inundated with 7-1/2 inches of rain in less than 24 hours.
Landi blamed sewerage backups on illegal cross-connections to the county sanitary sewer within municipalities jurisdictions.
Landi said the county Mamaroneck West Branch Sanitary Sewer Trunk Line did not backup sewage into the Beverly area, and blamed the change in diameter from the White Plains sanitary sewer to the county sanitary sewer for causing the condition. Landi said he did not know definitely, if there was a backup into Beverly homes, because his men said their line was functioning.
Landi said the number one cause of sewerage backups were illegal or “cross-connections” to the sanitary sewers within municipalities in the county which he alleged condone illegal connections of catch basins and storm drains. Connecting storm drains to sanitary sewers is not permitted, Landi, said and he blamed local municipalities for failure to supervise and inspect for illegal storm drain connections.
Landi said the Mamaroneck West Branch county sanitary sewerage treatment plant experienced double and triple their ordinary rate of flows April 15, which he attributed to illegal connections and broken pipes within municipalities connecting to the county sanitary sewer line, possibly through municipality-owned sanitary sewer lines.
Here is WPCNR’s interview with Mr. Landi:
WPCNR: Did you have any reports of sewerage backups in communities below White Plains or above White Plains?
Anthony Landi: No, we haven’t. We had our guys out there looking at our sanitary sewer lines. Our lines actually worked out pretty good.
That situation there at Beverly happens to be a unique situation where The city of White Plains has a rather large pipe connecting to ours which is a smaller diameter pipe. So we’re in contact with Bud Nicoletti and his group to see what they are going to do about that. But we didn’t have a backup. We did not.
Our line (in the Beverly Road area) did not look like it had exceeded its capacity. I think what happened that it was a larger White Plains line coming into a smaller diameter pipe. Someone said they have a 20 inch line going into 16 or 18 inch county sewer. That’s what my men told me was going on out there. He (Commissioner Nicoletti of White Plains) was looking at that intersection before the storm. He had contacted my men to see if something could be done about that.
WPCNR: How did the county sewer trunk lines perform? Any backups you know of?
Landi: We did not overflow any sewage. We did not have backup. All pump stations and electrical plants all functioned. The only problem we had was in Mamaroneck when we lost purchased power from Con Edison. We went on emergency generation for four days. We were fully operational. “
WPCNR: Did the Mamaroneck (or Yonkers) treatment plants stop functioning at any time?
Landi: They ran like clockwork. We had very high flows. I don’t want to misrepresent anything. We doubled and in some places tripled the amount of flow that usually comes in through our facilities.
WPCNR: That was all sewage? That was the sanitary sewer correct?
Landi: Well, yeah It should have been just sewers. But, quite honestly, John, what’s happening, and you can realize there must be cross-connections, there must be broken pipes within the local systems that’s contributory to our trunk (sanitary) sewers that’s increased the flow.
We know a lot of it falls back on the local municipalities. They have their catch basins or whatever attached to the sanitary sewer. When you start getting those increased flows (through the sanitary sewer), it’s coming from other than sewage obviously.
There’s a lot of ground water runoff so somehow there are cross connections someplace.
WPCNR: So you agree with White Plains Commissioner Nicoletti that there are illegal connections?
Landi: Or cross connections. That’s when you have a catch basin, a storm drain catch basin tied into the sanitary sewer.
WPCNR: Who would possibly do this?
Landi: We don’t run the storm drain system. That’s not usually county jurisdiction. That’s a local problem.
WPCNR: Will there be any attempts to address this problem on the local level, dictated by the county.
Landi: That’s up to the locals to address their situation. We’ve made them aware of it. This (storm) was a good wakeup call for some of these municipalities that maybe they need to take a look at their systems.
WPCNR: Mr. Nicoletti suggested that there were some connections upstream, a lot of new development up in Harrison, Rye Brook, Valhalla. The county does not inspect the storm drains on new developments?
Landi: The county usually doesn’t get involved with that. That’s usually the local municipalities that issue the building permits. They’re the ones that check out the design and they should be checking during the building process that the pipes are connected to the right place.”
As far as that Beverly goes, that’s almost the beginning of the line for us, there isn’t much else connected just above that line, it’s called the West Branch, part of the Mamaroneck county sewer district. So there isn’t much above that. It’s a local (White Plains) issue. They issue the building permits and even their sanitary sewers are making connections to the county trunk sewer line.
WPCNR: Were there any reports of sewerage backup out of the county trunk line going to Yonkers?
Landi: No. We handled everything on the trunk line going to Yonkers.
WPCNR: The reports of sewerage backup (not the E Hartdale Avenue area) in Greenburgh you attribute to the same cross-connection problem?
Landi: It’s probably a local problem, they’ve got some illegal connections. Illegal hookup, soil runoff.”
WPCNR: Do you feel we need to expand the county sanitary sewer system?
Landi: If you are to look at the county sanitary sewer system, it has ample capacity for handling sewerage. What happens is when you have what we have, where it’s no longer the sewerage coming into it, then that’s when you have your problems with the pipe structure loading up.
But if you just handle sewerage , the pump stations, the sewerage plants, and the trunk sewer lines have ample capacity. Take out the cross connections, our systems have ample capacity to handle it.
WPCNR: This flooding conference, is the county going to address this cross connection problem.
Landi: I can’t answer for the County Executive. In the past we have, back in 1998, we went out to local municipalities and did some studies, found some problems and tried to take those I.I’s out . We did pretty good we were able to handle some of the smaller storms. This was a unique storm. The county has taken the position we are in favor of reducing I.I. (Infiltration Inflow).
WPCNR: Would you say the illegal connections would be mostly in White Plains or up the line?
Landi: I think if you look at any municipality, you’re going to find illegal connections, John. It’s just not limited to White Plains or Harrison. You can find them all over.
WPCNR: So you agree with Mr. Nicoletti’s assessment (blaming illegal connections) ?
Landi: Yes, it should be addressed on a local basis. All municipalities need to go in and check their systems out and take care of business.
WPCNR: Would you say storm drains do not have enough capacity?
Landi: I don’t know about the local storm drain systems.
WPCNR: How close to capacity is the county sanitary sewer system?
Landi: Just handling sanitary, we have ample capacity, even to handle additional development on the sanitary sewer side. The pump stations are designed to handle additional flow. The treatment plants are. The sewers can certainly handle it. The problem comes when we get involved with the storms. You have any complaints today? No.
