January 24: County Executive George Latimer Gives Virtual Westchester Weekly Update

Rebuilding Westchester for a More Resilient Future: Latimer Outlines Infrastructure Resiliency Project in Ossinin

Following through on his pledge to put forth projects aimed at creating a more storm resilient Westchester, especially in light of recent catastrophic weather events, County Executive George Latimer is announcing that work on a $4.2M Capital Project to replace a Twin Feeder Aerial Cable at Ossining’s Wastewater Treatment Plant is underway. This project will raise electrical transformers for enhanced flood mitigation at the plant.

Latimer said: “Westchester County has seen an ever growing increase in ‘once in a hundred year’ storms that severely impact residents’ lives and many vital municipal operations. To combat these climate change based threats, we are undertaking key storm resiliency infrastructure projects. Projects which also create jobs for Westchester’s growing population and economy.”

The County of Westchester’s Department of Environmental Facilities is responsible for the operations of infrastructure and facilities to address the management of water, wastewater, materials recycling, and disposal, as well as other related environment services. The Wastewater and Water divisions are responsible for the operation of seven water resource recovery facilities and their auxiliaries, and two water districts.

The County’s treatment plants range in size and treat anywhere from approximately 3 million gallons to 110 million gallons of wastewater per day.  The storm-hardening of these facilities, like that which is accomplished in this capital project, allow the plants continued operation in the face of a changing climate and extreme weather events.

DEF Commissioner Vincent Kopicki said: “Building the storm resiliency of our facilities is a key goal of the Latimer Administration and a main priority of our Department. The benefits of these projects will be felt by Westchester residents in both the short and long term.”

The Ossining plant is sited on four acres in the City of Ossining along the Hudson River next to Sing-Sing Prison. The facility treats the wastewater from the Towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining and the Villages of Briarcliff Manor, Croton-on¬ Hudson, and Ossining. The wastewater is transported through local sewers and 6 miles of county owned trunk sewers and 10 county owned pumping stations to the plant, which was designed to treat an average daily flow of 7.0 Million Gallons per Day (MGD), but has a hydraulic capacity of 26.0 MGD. In 2021 the average flow was 4.3 MGD.

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