Septic Engineer for Fair Haven and Sterling, NY

Fair Haven septic, the short version

Fair Haven was a septic and holding tank village until a 1991 NYS DEC consent order led the village and the Cayuga County Water and Sewer Authority to build a regional collection system through the village and a portion of the Town of Sterling. If you are outside that system, you are on septic, and if you are in the Little Sodus Bay watershed, Cayuga County requires a Licensed Professional Engineer or Registered Architect to prepare the plans for any repair or modification.

Designs are prepared and stamped by a New York licensed Professional Engineer (PE). Backwell coordinates the design, the Cayuga County Health Department submittal, and the install.

Soils on the bay and the lake plain

Bluff tops along Lake Ontario carry Arkport fine sandy loam and Dunkirk silt loam. The USDA describes Arkport as very deep and well drained, formed in glacio-fluvial deposits high in fine and very fine sand, and Dunkirk as very deep, well drained silty soil on lake plains. Inland from the shore the flats change to Canandaigua silty clay loam, poorly to very poorly drained, formed in silty lake sediments.

Two different design problems come out of that. On the sandy bluff tops, the soil can take effluent fast, sometimes too fast. Appendix 75-A says a perc faster than one minute per inch is not suitable unless blended with a less permeable soil, and the application rate table only runs from one to 60 minutes per inch. On the clay flats, water sits high in spring, and the deep hole decides between a shallow trench, a raised system or a mound. A mound needs the high water at least one foot below the original surface and natural soil faster than 120 minutes per inch.

How it works in Sterling and Fair Haven

1. Address and plans. Bedrooms, seasonal or year-round, new or replacement. Estimate in 1 hour.
2. Find the water. Little Sodus Bay, the Lake Ontario shoreline, every creek and wetland on or near the lot, and wells on your lot and the neighbors.
3. Perc and deep hole. Two perc tests minimum, one deep hole at least six feet, more holes if the profile changes across the lot.
4. Stamped plan. Required for every new system and every repair in the Little Sodus Bay watershed.
5. Cayuga County review. Three copies, application and fee to 8 Dill Street, Auburn. The county checks the property and reviews to Appendix 75-A.
6. Build and certify. PE verification before backfill and the certificate of construction letter.

What the county reviews

• Absorption field 100 feet from the bay or lake (to the mean high water mark), 100 feet from wells, 20 feet from the house, 10 feet from property lines.
• Ground below the 10 year flood level is unacceptable for onsite systems.
• Tank sized to bedrooms. An expansion attic counts as a bedroom.
• Holding tanks are not acceptable for long term use on year-round homes under Appendix 75-A.

Fair Haven area problems and fixes

Timeline

Testing in spring shows the high water best. After submittal, the county application says approval to construct may take up to 4 to 6 weeks. The county also requires a septic inspection and tank pumping before every property sale, which is often what starts a Fair Haven replacement.

Sources

• NYS DOH, 10 NYCRR Appendix 75-A, Wastewater Treatment Standards, Residential Onsite Systems
• Cayuga County Health Department, Septic System Installation and Inspection
• Cayuga County Health Department, Instructions to Obtain Septic System Plan Approval for New Construction
• Cayuga County Health Department, Application to Install a New Septic System (rev. 1/7/2025)
• Cayuga County Health Department, Application to Modify/Replace an Existing Septic System (rev. 1/7/2025)
• NYCOM, Sewer District Completion, Village of Fair Haven (2014 LGAA)
• USDA NRCS Official Soil Series Description, Arkport
• USDA NRCS Official Soil Series Description, Dunkirk
• USDA NRCS Official Soil Series Description, Canandaigua

Rules and fees as published by each office on the date this page was written. They can change; the design is checked against the current versions at submittal.