WALSH: ADDITIONAL FEDERAL FUNDING FOR
FAIR HAVEN SEWERS RELEASED

(Syracuse, New York)- Congressman Jim Walsh today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development has awarded loans and grants totaling more than $1.3 million to the Cayuga County Water and Sewer Authority for construction of new sanitary sewers in the Village of Fair Haven.  Previously, Walsh has already secured a total of $6.5 million in federal funding to support the project.

The funds are split between two portions of the project: the opening phase of a new sewage system in the village and the western portion of the Town of Sterling and the installation of a new pump station that will move wastewater to the Red Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility currently under construction in Wayne County.

"This announcement is yet another example of the extensive federal commitment to a clean Lake Ontario shoreline," said Walsh.  "Significant federal funding has been made available through my efforts to subsidize the costs passed on to individual homeowners.  By acting now, Fair Haven corrects a serious water quality and public health problem that would only prove more costly and more serious if passed along to subsequent generations."

Announced USDA Rural Development funds will be distributed as follows:
· Phase I, sewage system: Cayuga County Water and Sewer Authority will receive a grant of $172,000 and a loan of $328,000;
· Pump station to move wastewater to Red Creek Regional WWTF: Cayuga County Water and Sewer Authority will receive a grant of $298,000 and a loan of $509,000.

“We’re pleased to be able to help the Cayuga County Water and Sewer Authority with this important project,” said Scott Collins, Acting Director of USDA Rural Development in New York. “The new system will provide nearly 500 homes in the Fair Haven area with reliable sewer service and will have a positive impact on both the environment and the residents’ quality of life.”

For years, the village has been served by private septic systems that have not adequately protected Little Sodus Bay, and recent reports show that within the next ten to fifteen years, many private septic systems will completely fail and need to be replaced.  For those who do not live along the bay or who have ample property, replacement is an option.  For others it is not feasible due to new state regulations.  Those parties will be forced to install a holding tank system requiring annual pump outs, and those costs will far exceed the capital costs for new sewer construction.

The Wayne County Sewer and Water Authority and the Cayuga County Sewer and Water Authority are undertaking the project jointly.  Besides serving the Village of Fair Haven and lakefront residences on Little Sodus Bay, the overall project will eventually accommodate homes and businesses in the Village of Red Creek, Village of Wolcott, Village of Fair Haven, Town of Wolcott (including lakefront residences on Port Bay and Blind Sodus Bay), Town of Sterling, Town of Rose, and the New York State Department of Corrections Facility in Butler.

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