History of Rockland County Sewer District #1

Rockland County Sewer District No. 1 was formed in 1963. The District primarily services the Towns of Ramapo and Clarkstown and several parcels in the Town of Orangetown. The District operates and maintains the major interceptors and pumping stations in the system and all sewers within the Village of Spring Valley. The Towns of Ramapo and Clarkstown maintain most of the 8" diameter sewers. The District’s wastewater treatment facility is located in Orangeburg, New York.

The wastewater treatment plant was originally constructed to treat 10 MGD. Development in Rockland County resulted in the expansion of the treatment facility to 26 MGD in the mid 1980s. The District has an undulating topography of hills and valleys with elevations ranging from 50 feet to 600 feet above sea level. The Rockland County Sewer District No. 1 boundary map is shown in Figure 1. The treatment process consists of mechanical bar screens, aerated grit chambers, primary settling tanks, rotating biological contactors, secondary settling tanks and chlorine contact tanks. Treated, chlorinated effluent is discharged into the Hudson River at Piermont, New York through an outfall sewer. A sketch of the treatment facility is shown in Figure 2. Sludge from the primary and secondary settling tanks are concentrated and an aerobically digested. The digested sludge is chemically conditioned before dewatering by belt filter presses. The sludge cake is composted while combustible gas that is produced during digestion of the sludge is compressed and stored for use to drive generators that produce electrical power.

Highlights of the Rockland County Sewer District No. 1 collection system are listed in Figure 3 (see right column). A telephone directory of District staff are shown on the Directory page. The District’s 2008 Sewer Use Charges can be downloaded by clicking here (pdf). Local Law No. 19 of 1997 established rules and regulations governing the discharge of sewage, industrial waste and other waste, into the Rockland County Sewer District No. 1. A copy of the enacted law by the Legislature of the County of Rockland can be downloaded by clicking here (pdf).

Future updates to the RCSD web page will include Organizational Charts of each District Department, adopted Board of Commissioner’s minutes and New York State Pollutant Discharge Permit information. Any questions about this web page or the Rockland County Sewer District No.1 can be answered by calling our helpful staff at (845) 365-6111.