Combined Tannery and
Municipal Waste Treatment —
Gloversville — Johnstown, New York
NELSON L. NEMEROW, Professor
Civil Engineering Department
Syracuse University
Syracuse, New York
RICHARD ARMSTRONG, Project Engineer
Morrell Vrooman Engineers
Gloversville, New York
GENERAL PROBLEM
Cayadutta Creek rises in the central part of Fulton County, New York, and
flows generally south for 12 miles through the cities of Gloversville, and Johnstown, and enters the Mohawk River at Fonda (Figure 1). The total catchment
area covers 62 sq miles above Station No. 6. There are no official gaging stations
on this stream. Ninety one per cent of the population discharging wastes into the
Cayadutta Creek is concentrated in the cities of Johnstown, and Gloversville, and
the village of Fonda. In 1952, New York State cited this creek as "one of the
most grossly polluted streams in the State." From within the City of Gloversville
to the junction with the Mohawk River this stream is entirely unsuited for the support of fish life whereas formerly this stream was trout water throughout its entire
length. It is very similar in hydraulic characteristics to a stream in a nearby
area, Kayaderosseras Creek, the flow of which is available from long term USGS
records. There are 22 tanneries and eight other major waste contributing manufacturing plants operating within the area. Their wastes are discharged either into the Gloversville sewers and treatment plant before entering Cayadutta Creek
between Station No. 1 and 3, or enter the Johnstown 30 in. sewer and are discharged untreated into the creek between Stations 4 and 5. Land for expansion at
the present Gloversville Treatment Plant is limited and built-up areas are as close
as 500 ft from the plant. The Village of Fonda has no sewage treatment plant.
However, the Creek which has a fall of about 450 ft in the 12 mile travel has begun to recover oxygen from Station 6 to the outlet in the. Mohawk River. Although
the Creek is classified F from Gloversville to Fonda, reclassification to D is anticipated. The 1960 population of Gloversville was 21,741 while that of Johnstown
was 10,390. Practically, the entire urban population is served by public sewer
systems with 2/3 tributary to the existing Gloversville sewage treatment plant.
This plant consists of a bar screen, grit chamber, two antiquated Dortmund type
primary settling basins, fixed nozzle trickling filter, two final Dortmund type
settling basins and sludge drying beds. The plant was built in the early 1900's and
is incapable of handling more than one-half of the wastewater of the flow rates
presently encountered. The tanning industry retained Malcolm Pirnie Engineers to
represent its interests in this problem while the two cities retained Vrooman Engineers to study and offer a solution to the pollution problem of Cayadutta Creek.
STREAM SURVEY
After an initial Creek appraisal and a trial Creek survey, it was sampled at
- 447 -