Schuyler County, NY
Catharine Valley Water Reclamation Facility
Regional wastewater treatment · Project Seneca
Watkins Glen and Montour Falls built a shared treatment system to replace two aging plants, meet more stringent discharge requirements, and make the old Watkins Glen waterfront site available for redevelopment. [1] [5]
- Regional project investment [3]
- $32M
- Residents served · 2022 [4]
- 5,582
- Plant design flow [3]
- 1.2M gal/day
- Precast reactor volume [8]
- 4.2M gallons
Why it happened
Watkins Glen faced a consent order to improve its plant. Montour Falls also needed a major upgrade. The two villages made a shared facility the first infrastructure project under Project Seneca, tying wastewater improvements to plans for the south shore of Seneca Lake. [1] [5]
What was built
The project included a regional plant, two pump stations, and about 15,360 feet of new force main specified to bring wastewater to the facility. The 4.2-million-gallon precast sequencing batch reactor treats wastewater in batches. The 1.2-million-gallon-per-day figure describes the entire plant’s design flow. [2] [3] [8]
What changed
The regional facility serves Watkins Glen, Montour Falls, and part of the Town of Dix. The consolidation allowed both older plants to be retired. In Watkins Glen, that made the former Seneca Lake site available for redevelopment and potential public waterfront access. [6] [5]
Project team
- Joint owners
- Villages of Watkins Glen and Montour Falls [2]
- Construction administration and startup
- Larson Design Group administered nine construction contracts. [3]
- General contractor
- Villager Construction, as identified in Menard’s ground-improvement case study. [7]
- Precast reactor
- Dutchland [8]
My role
I managed field coordination, value engineering, and precast installation for the reactor package.
Project photos
Site location
See the shared treatment plant beside the canal, south of Seneca Lake in the Catharine Creek Wildlife Management Area.
Project records
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Barton & Loguidice · Project profile
Why the villages consolidated and the design and permitting context.
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Project Seneca · Construction specifications
Joint project scope, pump stations, and specified force mains.
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Larson Design Group · Project record
Project investment, design flow, construction administration, and startup.
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EPA · 2022 Clean Watersheds Needs Survey
Residential population reported for the treatment facility in the 2022 Clean Watersheds Needs Survey. View facility survey data (JSON)
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Larson Design Group · Waterfront feasibility study
Project Seneca and the former Watkins Glen plant site.
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Schuyler County · Draft comprehensive plan
Service area and capacity for additional municipalities.
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Menard · Ground-improvement case study
Construction team and work on the plant site.
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Dutchland · Precast reactor case study
Reactor volume and precast scope.
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Village of Watkins Glen · Facility and virtual tour
Public facility information and a virtual walkthrough.