Septic Engineer in Newark, NY and Arcadia

Newark in two sentences

The Village of Newark's wastewater system covers a 5.4 square mile service area with nine pump stations and a 3 million gallon per day activated sludge plant on Murray Street that now discharges to the Erie Canal. The rest of the Town of Arcadia, the hamlets and farm roads past the village service area, runs on septic built to 10 NYCRR Appendix 75-A.

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

Arcadia soils and what they mean

Newark sits inside the drumlin field along the canal and Ganargua Creek. Drumlin flanks are Honeoye silt loam, very deep and well drained, and Lima silt loam, moderately well drained. Outwash benches near the canal are Palmyra gravelly loam, well to somewhat excessively drained. The wetland flats are Canandaigua silty clay loam and Lyons silt loam, poorly to very poorly drained.

That gives three typical Arcadia designs. Honeoye drumlin lots with four feet of usable soil: a conventional trench field, sized from the perc rate. Palmyra gravel: also conventional, unless the perc runs faster than one minute per inch, which 75-A says needs blending with a slower soil first. Canandaigua and Lyons flats: a raised system or a mound if the high water is at least one foot down, or higher ground elsewhere on the parcel if it is not.

How the perc rate sets the field size

Appendix 75-A sizes new homes at 110 gallons per day per bedroom. A three bedroom house is 330 gallons per day. At a perc rate of 6 to 7 minutes per inch the trench application rate is 1.0 gallon per day per square foot; at 31 to 45 minutes it is 0.5. Trench width for design is capped at two feet, so the slower soil needs about twice the trench length for the same house. Gravity lines max out at 60 feet each; with dosing or pressure distribution, lines can run to 100 feet.

How it works in Arcadia

1. Address and plan. Estimate in 1 hour.
2. Sewer check. Inside the village service area, the answer may be a connection, not a septic system.
3. Perc tests and deep hole. At least two perc tests and a test hole at least six feet deep.
4. PE stamped plan. Tank, field, reserve area and every separation distance.
5. Town permit. Building permit through the Town of Arcadia code office.
6. Install. Built to the stamped plan and Appendix 75-A, then inspected under the town process.

What gets checked

• Field 100 feet from wells, the canal, creeks and wetlands, 20 feet from the house, 10 feet from lot lines.
• Septic tank capacity by bedrooms, with an expansion attic counted.
• No field under driveways, buildings or above-ground pools.
• Surface water diverted away from the field.

Newark problems and fixes

Timeline

Testing and design, then the town permit, then the install. The 2026 NYSDOH directory lists the Geneva District Office, (315) 789-3030, as the state environmental health office for Wayne County.

Sources

• NYS DOH, 10 NYCRR Appendix 75-A, Wastewater Treatment Standards, Residential Onsite Systems
• NYS DOH Center for Environmental Health Directory 2026 (district offices and county health departments)
• MRB Group, Newark Wastewater Treatment Plant project summary
• USDA NRCS Official Soil Series Description, Honeoye
• USDA NRCS Official Soil Series Description, Lima
• USDA NRCS Official Soil Series Description, Palmyra
• USDA NRCS Official Soil Series Description, Canandaigua
• USDA NRCS Official Soil Series Description, Lyons

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.