Sewer plant that spewed sewage into Oneida River will get backup power system before Micron
Clay, N.Y. — The Onondaga County sewer plant that would serve Micron Technology’s planned chipmaking complex lost power on Monday, sending nearly 3 million gallons of partially treated sewage into the Oneida River.
County officials say that a backup power system will be installed as the Oak Orchard Wastewater Treatment Plant is expanded to serve the northern suburbs and Micron.
“As part of the overall upgrades taking place, redundant power supply will be added to the facility to ensure this does not happen again,” said Justin Sayles, spokesman for County Executive Ryan McMahon.
The county plans to spend an estimated $1 billion to expand the sewer system and build an entirely separate industrial wastewater system to serve Micron, about two miles east of Oak Orchard, and accompanying growth.
Micron plans to start construction in November.
Micron would discharge up to 42 million gallons of wastewater every day when the complex on Route 31 reaches capacity in 2041, the company said in its environmental impact report.
Oak Orchard’s capacity now is 10 million gallons per day.
On Monday afternoon, a truck belonging to a contractor working on the sewer expansion project struck and knocked down a utility pole at the treatment plant on Oak Orchard Road. Power was finally restored at 11:30 p.m., more than 10 hours after the accident, according to the New York state sewage alert system.
Today’s updated alert said nearly 3 million gallons of sewage, treated with disinfectant, was discharged into the Oneida River. Monday’s alert had estimated 5 million gallons.
The county is required to report sewage spills to the state alert system.
County officials were also required Monday to do testing of the river to submit to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. They must also file a report with the DEC detailing how they responded to the spill.
A DEC spokesman did not immediately reply to a question on whether the county could face fines or penalties.