Septic Engineer in Waterville, NY

Waterville: village sewer, rural septic

The Village of Waterville sits on the line between the Towns of Marshall and Sangerfield in southern Oneida County, with Big Creek, a tributary of Oriskany Creek, running through the center of the village. Inside the village, wastewater flows by gravity, with no pumping, to the Village of Waterville Wastewater Treatment Facility at 1659 State Route 315. The plant has run since 1970, uses an activated sludge extended air process, serves about 1,600 people and has a design flow of 300,000 gallons per day. Its state permit (SPDES NY0028461) lists the location as the Town of Marshall and the receiving water as Big Creek, a Class C(T) trout stream.

Neither Sangerfield nor Marshall is in the Oneida County Sewer District, so rural parcels in both towns use private septic. That includes Sangerfield hamlets such as Sangerfield on US 20, Pleasant Valley, Five Corners and Stockwell, and Marshall hamlets such as Deansboro, Forge Hollow, Hanover, Marshall, Small Corners and Daytonville.

For those lots, Backwell coordinates the soil tests, the design, the permit and the install. Designs are prepared and stamped by a New York licensed Professional Engineer (PE).

The opposite of a wet soil problem

Most of central New York fights high water. Around Waterville, the common soils drain well. USDA soil data near the village shows Pittsfield loam and Nellis loam as the most extensive soils, then Alton gravelly loam and Lansing silt loam, with Lamson, Palms muck, Amenia and Canandaigua also mapped.

• Nellis is very deep, well drained calcareous till with bedrock more than 60 inches down. The soil survey still rates it Very limited for absorption fields, because of a fast seepage bottom layer.
• Pittsfield is very deep and well drained, bedrock deeper than 65 inches, with conductivity from moderately low to high.
• Alton is gravelly outwash with high to very high conductivity below 40 inches.
• Lansing is well drained but slow inside, rated Somewhat limited for slow percolation at 24 to 72 inches.

Fast soil passes a perc test easily. The risk is that effluent reaches groundwater before the soil has treated it. That matters most where a private well is downhill. A design on these soils often spreads effluent evenly with pressure distribution, or uses a sand layer to slow it down, rather than dumping it into one end of a gravity trench.

There are wet exceptions. Palms muck and Canandaigua show up in low spots, and Nine-Mile Swamp, on the east branch of the Chenango River, lies partly in southwestern Sangerfield. Streams north of Sangerfield drain to Oriskany Creek and streams south drain to the Chenango River, so a lot can sit near a stream either way. Appendix 75-A keeps fields 100 feet from a stream, lake or wetland.

How it works

1. Send the address. We confirm whether the parcel is in the village sewer area. Estimate in 1 hour.
2. Deep hole. At least one hole at least 6 feet deep in or beside the field area, per Appendix 75-A. On these soils it shows whether gravel sits close under the loam.
3. Perc tests. At least two per system.
4. Design. At least 4 feet of usable soil for a conventional field. Sized at 110 gallons per day per bedroom for new construction.
5. Permits. The town or village code office where the lot sits. The Village of Waterville Building and Codes Enforcement office is at 122 Barton Ave. Alternative systems also go to the Oneida County Health Department, 800 Park Ave., Utica.
6. Install. Backwell builds to the plan, inspected before cover.

Fees

The Oneida County plan review fee schedule (revised March 2022) lists $500 for an individual sewage system and $150 for an individual sewage site survey, for designs that go to the county. Installation cost depends on the system the soil calls for. You get a written price in 1 hour after sending the address.

The county septic replacement grant reimburses 50 percent of eligible costs up to $10,000 for properties within 250 feet of a listed priority waterbody, through March 31, 2027. Grant work must be designed by a licensed engineer.

The grant application asks for the tank size, the last pump out date, the tank material and any as built drawing, and the $10,000 maximum requires an itemized estimate listing engineering and design costs plus time and materials. Eligible work includes repair, replacement, or an upgrade such as an advanced nitrogen removal system, which can make sense on soils that move effluent quickly toward groundwater.

Problems we solve near Waterville

A well downhill from a fast draining field

Appendix 75-A keeps fields 100 feet from a well. On Nellis and Alton, we treat that as a minimum and place the field with the slope in mind. See pressure distribution design.

Hillside lots toward Tassel Hill

Tassel Hill, the highest point in Oneida County at 1,945 feet, rises east of the village. Slopes over 15 percent are not acceptable for a conventional field or a raised system. See steep slope septic design.

Low spot with muck

Palms muck is not a field site. See wet yard septic design.

Timeline

Testing is one day. Plans follow. Installation is days of equipment time. Raised systems built with fill must settle six months unless the fill is granular sand or sandy loam compacted in lifts.

Sources

• Village of Waterville, wastewater facility
• Village of Waterville, departments
• NYSDEC Environmental Notice Bulletin, Waterville STP NY0028461
• Oneida County Sewer District, members
• Waterville, New York (Wikipedia)
• Sangerfield, New York (Wikipedia)
• Marshall, New York (Wikipedia)
• NYS DOH, 10 NYCRR Appendix 75-A
• Oneida County Health Department, plan review fee schedule
• Oneida County, septic system replacement funding
• USDA NRCS, Nellis series
• USDA NRCS, Pittsfield series
• USDA NRCS, Alton series
• Oneida County, septic grant application