VanLare Wastewater Treatment Facility - Tunnel
Systems
A grant in 1980 from the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation gave the Monroe County Pure Waters
District the opportunity to put an end to chronic problems with
its combined sewers creating numerous overflow points in the City
of Rochester during wet weather events. Most of the interceptors
and trunk sewers were constructed before Rochester became a highly
modern city.
The combined sewers transported both wastewater and stormwater
during wet weather events. This led to serious overflow problems
because the plant lacked the capacity to handle the large volume
of water collected in the sewers during wet weather events. There
were close to 50 overflow points throughout the City of Rochester.
There were two potential ways to handle this overflow problem
- 1) update the sewer system, which would have cost close to $5
billion; or 2) build the tunnel systems, which cost around $700
million. Needless to say, the solution chosen was the tunnel
systems.
The tunnel system's construction was started in 1982. 75% of
the funding was provided by federal grants, 12 1/2% of the funding
was provided by state grants, and the remaining 12 1/2% of the
funding was provided by local shares. A laser-guided tunnel boring
machine, called a mole, chewed tunnels anywhere from 10 to 19
feet in diameter. The mole is an enormous piece of equipment,
400 feet from cutter head to the end of its trailing equipment,
where the smashed rock is loaded into rail cars. It is worth
$2,500,000. Approximately thirteen people tended each mole.
The tunnel system, started in 1982 and completed in 1991, cost
a total of $700 million. The tunnel systems prevent overflow
with a "catch and store" system (as opposed to the "dump"
system used prior to the building of the tunnel systems). During
wet weather events, the excess water that the plant can not handle
is no longer sent to the Genesee River or Irondequoit Bay, nor
is it overflowed into the streets of the city. The tunnels now
catch the water and store it. When the storm is over and the
plant is not treating it's full capacity, the water is sent to
the plant and treated. Before the installation of the tunnel
systems, there were an average of 30-40 overflow events per year.
There has been one overflow event in the past three years.
