Ossining Breaks Ground on Record $100-Million Water Treatment Plant
By JOHN JORDAN – August 2024
OSSINING, NY—A host of elected officials celebrated the official groundbreaking for the new Indian Brook Water Treatment Plant—the largest infrastructure project in Ossining’s history. It is also one of the largest municipal capital projects in memory in this northwest section of Westchester—and it’s the largest potable water treatment plant in development in the Northeast, according to many village and town officials of Ossining present Tues., Aug. 6.
In 2023, The Village of Ossining was awarded $10 million through the Mid-Hudson Momentum Fund, a New York State funding program designed to support community investment in projects throughout the region, specifically earmarked for growing infrastructure and housing needs, to help fund the construction of the new Indian Brook Water Treatment Plant.
The main contracts include General Construction: ELQ Industries of New Rochelle, NY at $68,541,828.64; Solar Electric Systems of White Plains (electric) at $13,100,000; Carey & Walsh of Briarcliff Manor, NY (HVAC) at $3,185,000 and Mace Contracting Corp. of New Rochelle, NY (plumbing) at $2,200,000. Arcadis is the construction manager on the project. The remaining costs of the project include soft costs and contingencies, village officials noted.
President & CEO Samuel Etre of ELQ Industries told CONSTRUCTION NEWS that the new Indian Brook Water Treatment Plant job would be a union project, and that at peak construction periods the project would employ up to 75 union tradesmen.
In 2016, the Village and Town of Ossining jointly initiated planning for the construction of a new water treatment plant as it was mutually understood that the existing plant was reaching the end of its useful life. It could not continue to operate efficiently at the capacity required to meet evolving regulatory requirements and accommodate population growth. Ossining Town Supervisor Elizabeth Feldman said that Ossining is growing and seeing affordable and mixed-use developments being built in the town. She said the expansion of the water plant was necessary to accommodate its future growth.
Mayor Levin and others advised county and state officials in attendance that the project could use more public funding. The village also secured $5 million in Water Infrastructure Improvement and $160,000 in Green Innovation Grant Program funding through the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation to offset the capital cost of the project and to integrate a green roof array on the completed plant, underscoring the village’s commitment to sustainable, smart development, village officials stated.
Ossining Director of Public Works Paul Fraioli said that the plant is by far the biggest project ever undertaken in Ossining and said that the new plant would take more than three years to complete and will service Ossining’s water needs well into the future. Once the new plant is in operation, the existing plant will likely be converted to office space.
Among the dignitaries at the groundbreaking were town and village officials, Westchester Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins, New York State Sen. Peter Harckham, New York State Assembly members Dana Levenberg and Steve Otis.