HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB 2025-095 IAWWTF Group of Six Owner resolution for NYS DEC Permit ModificationMEETING OF THE ITHACA TOWN BOARD
August 25, 2025
TB Resolution 2025 - 095: Authorizingthe Town Supervisor to sign Municipal Coalition Letter in Opposition to NYSDEC-proposed IthacaArea Wastewater Treatment Facility Permit Modifications,
and in Support ofState Investment in Water Quality Mitigations Identified in the “Cayuga Lake Total Maximum Daily Load for Phosphorus.”
Whereas, the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility (IAWWTF), located at the south end of Cayuga Lake, is a 13.1 million gallons-per-day-capacity treatment plant owned and operated
by the City of Ithaca, the Town of Ithaca and the Town of Dryden; and,
Whereas,the Town of Ithaca is one of the three aforementioned owners; and,
Whereas, IAWWTF ownersare currently engaged in the planning phase of a multi-year capital improvement project (CIP), focusing on the modernization and replacement of aged and failing
infrastructure,with out-of-pocket costs divided among ownersandpassed through to non-owner-users, via independently negotiated agreements based on usage; and,
Whereas, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) is proposing discharge permit modifications to include limits for ammonia and nitrite, which can be harmful
to aquatic life in high concentrations; and,
Whereas, the aforementioned modifications are being considered solely based on modeling and have not been corroborated byambient waterquality andbiologicalmonitoring near the IAWWTF
discharge or elsewhere in the southern Cayuga Lake waterbody segment; and,
Whereas, the membrane bioreactor technology required to meet the proposed permit limit for nitrite would add100 million dollars to the cost of the original CIP, which would impose an
enormous, unsustainable, andunjustifiable financial burden on ratepayers in the stakeholder municipalitiesfor the indefinite future and would achieve limited, if any, environmental benefit;
now therefore be it
Resolved, that the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca, having reviewed the attached letter authored on behalf of the six municipal signatories to the 2003 Intermunicipal Wastewater Agreement,
supports the positions and recommendations articulated therein, and authorizes the Town Supervisor to sign in representation of this body.
Moved: Margaret JohnsonSeconded: Rob Rosen
Vote: ayes – Johnson, Rosen, Howe, DePaolo and Gutenberger