Big Bay Toad Harbor Sewer



Town government maintains fiscal responsibility for a town, along with
decisions that benefit the town residents. Many times we must look at
specific smaller areas needs, wants and mandates. While we individually may
not benefit, we facilitate needed services for others. Governments are
created to supply services to the public which are not readily available or
reachable by the individual residents. Our priority mainly targets health
and safety issues. These services need maintenance, monitoring and financing
which only a government can effectively provide for residents. Government in
this country operates by the demand and will of the majority with a keen ear
posted on the minority. From experience, the minority usually speaks louder
than the majority.



Big Bay is in need of sewer rehabilitation. The old system was installed
over 20 years ago and is in the repair phase, beyond its projected life
cycle. The original system functioned well, but certainly age is catching up
to it. Concurrently, the Toad Harbor lake properties, with their recently
installed water system, have the same type of drainage problems as Big Bay
has, water can not effectively infiltrate the ground. With the recent
addition of a municipal water system into areas with minimum water supply,
people add washing machines, take longer showers and in general use the
newborn water supply. This water all goes down the drain and hopefully is
processed and dissipates. A glimpse long past, twenty five years ago to be
exact, Big Bay installed a municipal water system and was flooded with
sewage within two years, with residents demanding relief. A municipal sewer
system was installed alleviating the problem. We are reasonably sure Toad
Harbor will follow in the same manner. Within this area, the ground will
eventually become over saturated and the existing septic systems will fail.
All new septic systems in the harbor vicinity are required to have a raised
bed or an alternate mechanical filtering system. The price tag of these
systems, are well above $20,000 and that is a minimum outlay, if there even
exists property large enough for the installation and does not include
operation or maintenance. Certainly most residents in the area recognize the
tight congestion of these lake properties.



During the last two years, we have been in contact with engineers and NYS
funding agencies attempting to study, design and procure funding for
replacement of Big Bay sewer and to also extend the service attaching Toad
Harbor to the same system. Not only would it be a benefit to the harbor
residents because of their inability to afford a treatment plant of their
own, but the bay and the harbor will jointly benefit from "economies of
scale" created by additional service connections. Attaching the harbor area
will add more services to distribute the costs for both districts creating a
win-win for both geographic locations, one in need of a rehab to supply a
treatment facility and another in need of a new installation without a
facility. Incidentally, we are currently entertaining a joint effort with
Hastings for the wastewater treatment of our lake properties. Inquires may
contact me at: westmonroesupervisor@windstream.net

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