About Us

The Albany County Sewer District was established by County Resolution No. 45 of 1968 and has provided wastewater services since the Spring of 1974. The Sewer District’s operation and maintenance costs are funded wholly through user fees and assessments. The District’s activities are directed by a five member Board of Commissioners appointed by the Albany County Legislature. The day to day operations are overseen by the Executive Director and an operations and maintenance staff of 87 to perform all permit, operational, maintenance and laboratory functions.

On an average day in 2005, the Sewer District treated 46.6 million gallons of wastewater. The District not only disposes, on site through incineration, all bio-solids generated from treatment, but also aids several smaller communities with small treatment plants within the County in disposing of their bio-solids. This has proven to be the most economical and environmentally sound means for disposal.

The District also aids the entire County by the acceptance of scavenger waste generated within the County. This is extremely important to the more rural areas which are on septic systems or serviced by small treatment plants not capable of receiving such waste. The city systems have benefited in the removal of heavy solids and grease and oil from the collection system.

Department Summary

Authority
The Albany County Sewer District was established by County Resolution 45 of 1968. The District has provided wastewater services since 1974

Responsibilities

• Issue permits under the Scavenger Waste Program to allow haulers to dispose of waste at the District's facility. A compliance system has been instituted by the District to ensure that all scavenger haulers meet the requirements of their permit. The Sewer District realized $441,254 in revenue from Scavenger Waste Haulers in 2005.
• Provide the ultimate sewage sludge disposal for numerous small to medium sewage treatment plants. This service provides the most economical method of disposal for these communities. In 2005, the District realized revenues of $568,728 from sewage sludge disposal.
  

Staffing
The staffing of the District allows most of the work load to be handled in house. The primary reason for this self-sufficiency is due to the separation of departments into Administration, Process Operation, Maintenance, and Laboratory. These individual departments promote professional expertise in many areas. The responsibilities of each department within the District are as follows:

Administration
This department is responsible for overall administration of the District including fiscal aspects, personnel, operation and maintenance.

Process Operation
The operation of all processes and unit operations within each plant are carried out by the process operating staff. Process equipment must perform as efficiently as possible, especially in the solids handling sector, to minimize plant operating costs while maximizing pollutant removals. Process operation is also responsible for most routine maintenance and clean up activities, including groundskeeping.
Training of process operators and our plant safety program is also included under this department. The importance of training and safety cannot be overstated. Training operators to fill vacant process positions and the safety of all our employees benefit the overall operation and cut loss time accidents while eliminating potential safety hazards.

Maintenance
Both major and preventative maintenance of all mechanical, instrument and electrical equipment is the responsibility of the maintenance and instrumentation departments. All maintenance functions for both plants fall under the responsibility of the Chief of Maintenance and the Chief of Instrumentation. The responsibilities of these departments are as follows: Maintenance of all mechanical equipment, metering pits, incinerator control systems and electrical maintenance with the exception of high voltage systems.

Laboratory
The laboratory, which is state certified, runs all of the analytical tests necessary for process control within the plant and reporting to the regulatory agencies. Besides this basic duty, this department also performs analyses on industrial wastes and administers the industrial waste control and pre-treatment program. The maintenance of all storm water regulators under District control is carried out by a sewer crew within this department to insure that all dry weather wastewater flow reaches the plants for treatment.

Organization
Sewer District operations are funded wholly through user fees and assessments. The District’s activities are directed by a board of five commissioners appointed by the Albany County Legislature. Day-to-day operations are overseen by an Executive Director. Click on the chart below for a full view of our organization chart. It will open in a new window, just close the window to return to this page.

Click here to view our organization chart.