Albany Pool Communities Combined Sewer Overflow Long Term Control Plan
Martin Daley
Director of Water Quality Programs
mdaley@cdrpc.org
phone 518.453.0850
About the Albany Pool Communities Combined Sewer Overflow Long Term Control Plan
PLEASE NOTE: WE HAVE A NEW WEBSITE AND WILL NO LONGER BE UPDATING THIS PAGE.
Visit the new website at www.albanypoolcso.org
The Capital District Regional Planning Commission has taken the lead in organizing a consortium to develop a comprehensive inter-municipal Phase I Long-Term Control Plan (LTCP) for Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO: overflows from combined storm & sanitary sewers) discharging into the Hudson River Estuary. The participating Albany Pool communities are the Albany Water Board; the cities of Cohoes, Rensselaer, Troy and Watervliet; and the Village of Green Island. Each community currently has its own State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit. The Albany & Rensselaer County Sewer Districts are also partners in the consortium. Check out the Albany Pool Communities CSO LTCP Brochure Scroll down for status updates and reports.
Click here for a presentation on the program
What are Combined Sewers?
Combined sewer systems (CSS) are sewer systems that are designed to collect storm water runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater in the same pipe and bring it to the publicly owned treatment works (POTW) facilities.
During rain events, when storm water enters the sewers, the capacity of the sewer system may be exceeded and the excess water will be discharged directly to a waterbody (rivers, streams, estuaries, and coastal waters).
The untreated water may contain untreated sewage that may impact human health. For information about the general CSO wet weather advisory and links to the CSO outfall map visit the CSO Wet Weather Advisory web page.
Albany Pool CSO Long Term Control Plan – This page provides information on the Long Term Control Plan to significantly reduce the direct discharge of stormwater diluted with sewage in the Hudson River.
The Albany Pool of the Hudson River currently has 92 Combined Sewer Overflow points. Combined sewer systems are designed to discharge directly to surface bodies of water such as rivers, estuaries, and coastal waters during wet weather when total flows exceed the capacity of the combined sewer system or the treatment plant.
In 2007, the Pool Communities began working together to develop a joint Long Term Control Plan. The plan was created to study the current health of the Hudson River, identify programs and projects that will aid in the clean-up of the river, and through a sophisticated modeling system and post construction testing program, and demonstrate the effectiveness of the program.
Working with the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Pool will implement more than 50 projects and programs that will significantly improve the water quality of the Hudson River and its tributaries.
Implementation of the Albany Pool Communities’ LTCP is already underway. The communities have developed and executed the intermunicipal agreement that will guide the shared implementation of programs and projects. The communities have also established a Local Development Corporation that will take on the role of administrator.
As the program is implemented, further sampling and analysis of the Hudson River and its tributaries will take place, allowing the Albany Pool Communities to measure the ongoing success of the program.
Combined Sewer Overflow Discharge Notification System
The Albany Pool Communities have jointly developed this web-based information service that provides easy access to alerts for potential for CSO activity in the Capital region. Visit the website at www.albanypool.org.
Note: The Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Notification System is not currently supported by Firefox.
Program Metrics
| Areas of Concern | Baseline | End of Program |
| Untreated CSO Volume (Millions of gallons) | 1236 | 610 |
| Number of Events | 65 | 65 |
| Wet Weather Flow Treated (Millions of gallons | 2827 | 3453 |
| Pool-Wide Percent Capture |
69.5% | 85% |
| CSO Flow Receiving Floatables Capture | 27 | 454 |
| Pool-Wide Treatment & Floatables Capture | 70.1% | 88.8% |
| Disinfection at Treatment Plants | No | Seasonal |
| Fecal Coliform Water Quality Standard Violations | 30 | 0 |
LTCP Green Infrastructure
In addition to several demonstration projects, the Albany Pool CSO LTCP supports the implementation of several Green Infrastructure (GI) strategies. The APCs have implemented a robust Green Infrastructure Program which has evaluated the effectiveness of “green practices” through codes and local law review and performed a feasibility assessment for a “Green Infrastructure Banking System”; and the implementation of additional demonstration projects. Development of a pool-wide Green Infrastructure Tool Box is underway. The Communities have committed to document and report new public and private development projects within the APCs to the Department in an annual report.
- Green Infrastructure Local Code Audit Executive Summary (modeled after the Albany County Stormwater Coalition Initiative) – This project was funded with grant support from the NYSDOS
- Green Infrastructure Banking System Feasibility Report – This project was funded with grant support from the NYSDEC Estuary Program
Scope of Work
- Albany Pool CSO Long Term Control Plan Development Scope of Work & Characterization, Monitoring, & Modeling Plan
- Combined Sewer System Modeling Work Plan
- Receiving Water Quality Assessment
- CSO Model Development & Baseline Report
- CSO Model Development & Baseline Report Presentation
- 2009 Tributary Sampling Report
- Receiving Water Quality Model Report
- Albany Pool Communities CSO LTCP Brochure
- Development and Evaluation of CSO Control Alternatives
- Albany Pool CSO Long Term Control Plan Final Draft
- Albany Pool Communities CSO Long Term Control Plan Supplemental Documentation, October 2013
Albany Pool Communities CSO Long Term Control Plan In The News
2019
- Sewage Still Flowing Into Local Rivers – Schenectady Gazette, March 22, 2019
- NY Mayors Advocate For AIM Funding In Albany – WAMC, February 12, 2019
- Water quality projects go begging for funds – Investigative Post, February 7, 2019
- Storm, melting snow drive municipal sewage spills in Hudson River – Albany Times Union, February 4, 2019
- Bills for updating aging water, sewage systems continue to grow, Albany Times Union, January 19, 2019
2018
- Capital Region economic development grants: residential conversions, sewers, Lincoln Park pool, Urban Grow Center – All Over Albany, December 18, 2018
- The plan for a sewer facility in Lincoln Park is set to move forward next year — with a significant change – All Over Albany, November 28, 2018
- There’s a chance coming up to find out what’s up with that sewer / park project in Lincoln Park, All Over Albany, November 13, 2018
- Keeping sewage overflow at bay in Albany – News10 ABC, October 25, 2018
- Cities are using new cloud technology to fight increasingly expensive and catastrophic flooding, CNBC, October 18, 2018
- Rain causing sewage overflow into local bodies of water – News 10 ABC, August 4, 2018
- 6.5 billion gallons of sewage and stormwater released in NY last year: report – NYUp.com, May 11, 2018
- Albany residents air concerns on site of sewer facility in Lincoln Park, Albany Times Union, April 3, 2018
- The plan to fix a problem in Albany that’s been a century in the making — and the concerns about that fix – All Over Albany, April 24, 2018
- Public airing on $45M sewer facility in Lincoln Park set for Monday- Albany Times Union, April 17, 2018
- Albany residents learn more about Beaver Creek Clean River Project – NewsChannel13, April 11, 2018
2017
- Grant Could Lead to Lower Troy Sewer Costs– Albany Times Union, June 26, 2017
- Lawmakers: Sewer Cooperation is Below the Surface but Important Nonetheless– Albany Times Union, March 17, 2017
2015
- Quail St. Project: Making Albany Permeable -WAMC, November 5, 2015
- Albany unveils new porous pavement to combat flooding – Albany Times Union, November 5, 2015
- Albany’s North Swan Street Park comes back to life- Albany Times Union – Albany Times Union, June 27, 2015
- Plan to cut sewage spills into Hudson moving forward– Albany Times Union, June 17, 2015
- Pooled Efforts = Cleaner Hudson River– WAMC, June 17, 2015
2014
- $136M Hudson sewage cleanup plan reached– Albany Times Union, January 16, 2014
- An upstate plan to keep raw sewage out of Hudson– Capital New York, January 16, 2014
- NY, 6 Communities Agree On Sewage Cleanup Plan– WAMC, January 16, 2014
- State, 6 communities agree on sewage cleanup plan– WSJ, January 16, 2014
2012
- Letter: Collaborate on a better policy– Albany Times Union, December 11, 2012
2011
- Sewage Frequently Fouls Hudson River, Report Says– New York Times, August 9, 2011
- Study by NY’s Riverkeeper finds Hudson unsafe for swimming 21 percent of the time– The Daily Gazette, August 9, 2011
- Study on Hudson River finds unsafe sewage pollution– Poughkeepsie Journal, August 9, 2011
- Combined Sewer Overflow Long Term Control Plan: Bacteria down, price tag could rise-Troy Record, January 16, 2011