I have always thought that the least appreciated part of public infrastructure is what is buried underground, i.e. sewer and water facilities. The public sees their schools, highways and bridges since they are above ground. However, the average person doesn’t give much thought to the miles of underground pipeline and expensive treatment plants associated with providing clean water or treating sewage.

Just think – when was the last time you thought about where your effluent goes when you flush your toilet or run your garbage disposal? I would expect that many people in a place like Bemus Point don’t realize that their sewage and waste water disappears without smell or problems because it flows about 10 miles south to the outlet and then crosses under the Chadakoin River to a state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant in Celoron.

The Celoron Sewage Treatment Plant is run by the South and Center Chautauqua Lake Sewer Districts, and the people employed there are rightfully proud of the work that they do in properly disposing of sewage from communities around the lake. They are also the key players in plans to extend public sewers up the west side of the lake through the Stow area and on up to Prendergast Point. Fortunately, because those building this plant 36 years ago thought ahead, the Celoron facility was built with excess capacity so that it can easily handle this additional load. This additional capacity has also enabled job-producing industries – like Southern Tier Brewery, Cummins and the Empire Specialty Cheese Plant in Blockville – to have a DEC-approved sewage treatment plant to receive the wastewater that they generate.

When you visit the Celoron Plant it is plain from visual inspection that the people who run it know what they are doing. The grounds are immaculate and the organized flow through various levels of treatment goes on day and night. As sewage first arrives at the plant, it is put through a machine to remove handiwipes and other fibrous material which have been sold as being biodegradable but can actually clog-up sewers. I had no idea that these consumer items caused such a “headache” at a sewer plant.

Inside the “headquarters” building is a computerized control room where plant engineers can see current time conditions on the whole system including pump and vacuum-pump stations which keep the sewage flowing. When plant engineers go home at the end of the working day, they can go online and continue to monitor what is happening throughout the sewage treatment and collection system via their home computer. Also impressive is the laboratory at the plant where samples are taken on a real time basis to test for bacteria, phosphorous and other markers in the sewage flow. This laboratory also assists other, smaller sewage plants in the county in analyzing and measuring their effluent.

Recently the treatment plant was commended by the DEC for progress made in isolating and fixing places where, during heavy rainstorms, older parts of the sewer system (in places like Lakewood) allow storm water into the sewage collection system. The Celoron Plant is also ahead of schedule in meeting new DEC guidelines for phosphorous removal. All of this is to say that we, as a community, should be grateful for those “unsung heroes” who work every day in places like the South and Center Chautauqua Lake Sewer Districts to insure that the rest of us have clean and safe water and proper sewage treatment infrastructure for the effluent we generate.

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.