Residents’ sewer study
Sewer capacity in storms
When heavy rain gets into sewer pipes, through combined sewers, leaky pipes and manholes, or illegal sump-pump hookups, treatment plants and pump stations can run out of room and overflow. This page maps where that has happened in the Towns of Poughkeepsie, Hyde Park, Wappinger and LaGrange and the City of Poughkeepsie, and what each system is doing about it.
283
sewage overflow reports from the City of Poughkeepsie system, December 2020 to August 2026
98%
of those were caused by rain or snowmelt
At capacity
the Tri-Municipal plant serving the Wappingers Falls area; new hookups on hold
No sewer
on Hyde Park’s Route 9 corridor; a district is being formed
Map
Treatment plants are rings sized by design flow. Filled circles are places where sewage overflowed, sized by the number of reports. Click anything for details.
Areas with storm problems, and what is being done
| Area and plant | Storm problem | What is being done | Size | Status | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
City of Poughkeepsie The City (combined sewers) and the Town’s Fairview area Capacity: 10 million gallons a day | Storm overflows or capacity limit Old combined sewers carry sewage and rainwater in the same pipes. In heavy rain or snowmelt they overflow, untreated, into the Hudson at permitted outfalls. 283 overflow reports since December 2020 | Long Term Control Plan: collection-system design, eliminating the Riverview overflow, Pine Street pump station, an inflow and infiltration study, a plant roof, porous paving on Liberty Street. | ≈$15.8 million of listed projects; $11.2 million in State (EFC) loans and grants | Under way; the plan runs to 2029 | City CSO page |
Tri-Municipal (Wappingers Falls area) Village of Wappingers Falls, most of the sewered Town of Wappinger, and the southern Town of Poughkeepsie along the Route 9 corridor, where The Ridge would be built Capacity: 2.775 million gallons a day (permit) | Storm overflows or capacity limit The plant is at capacity. Rainwater and illegal sump-pump hookups entering the sewers use up capacity in heavy rain, and the Commission has put a moratorium on new connections; projects are on hold. In January 2024, 2.4 inches of rain on 12 inches of snow overflowed a channel at the plant. 2 overflow reports since December 2020 | A $105,000 grant to eliminate a redundant sewer district and add capacity. In May 2025 the Village proposed manhole inserts to keep out surface water and inspections to find illegal sump-pump hookups. | $105,000 grant; manhole inserts described as “low-cost”. No funded plant expansion found. | Moratorium on new connections (reported February 2025); Village proposals under committee review | Moratorium (Feb 2025) Village proposals (May 2025) Town plan |
Town of Poughkeepsie (Arlington district) Most of the sewered Town of Poughkeepsie Capacity: 4 million gallons a day (permit); the Town says the plant was expanded to 5 | Storm overflows reported In the May 31, 2025 storm the Spackenkill Road pump station overflowed for at least 12 hours at an estimated 500 gallons a minute (“pumps can not keep up”), and manholes on Enterprise Drive and Casperkill Drive overflowed into the Casperkill. 3 overflow reports since December 2020 | Removing rainwater and groundwater that leaks into the sewers (inflow and infiltration). | About 500,000 gallons a day of inflow and infiltration removed from the Arlington and Hagen Farms areas | Partly done; the Town says improvements are continuing | Town plan |
Town of Hyde Park (Route 9) No public sewer on the Route 9 corridor; homes and businesses use septic systems. Small district plants serve Greenfields and Bellefield. Capacity: Greenfields 0.13 million gallons a day | No public sewer Without sewers the Town Center can’t grow denser; septic systems are the limit. | A Route 9 Sewer District from Linden Lane to Terwilliger Road, with a new treatment plant in Pine Woods Park. | Route 9 corridor, Linden Lane to Terwilliger Road | District being formed; engineering authorized April 2025 | District plan (2020) Town Board (Apr 2025) |
Town of Wappinger small district plants Fleetwood Manor, Wildwood and Midpoint Park districts Capacity: 0.06 to 0.1 million gallons a day each | No overflows reported No overflow reports found since 2021. 0 overflow reports since December 2020 | — | — | — | DEC reports |
Town of LaGrange Titusville/Manchester and Noxon Knolls districts; most of the Town uses septic systems Capacity: Titusville/Manchester 0.5, Noxon Knolls 0.03 million gallons a day | No overflows reported No overflow reports found since 2021. 0 overflow reports since December 2020 | — | — | — | DEC reports |
Overflow reports are those filed under each plant’s permit in New York’s Sewage Pollution Right to Know system. An overflow at a sewer owned by a town rather than the plant may be filed under another name, so the counts are a minimum.
City of Poughkeepsie overflow reports by year
1
2020
59
2021
47
2022
60
2023
52
2024
35
2025
29
2026 so far
What it means for The Ridge
The Town of Poughkeepsie’s plan says the Tri-Municipal plant serves “the southerly portion of the Town along the Route 9 corridor,” where The Ridge would be built. That plant is at capacity, and in February 2025 the Village was told of a moratorium on new connections. We found no funded expansion. Questions for the Town Board:
- Which plant would take The Ridge’s sewage, and has the Tri-Municipal Sewer Commission agreed to it?
- How many gallons a day would 198 homes and the daycare add, and where would that capacity come from?
- Would the project be exempt from the moratorium, and if so, why, when other projects are on hold?
- What would stop rainwater from the new roofs and parking reaching the sewers?
Sources
- NYS DEC, Sewage Pollution Right to Know discharge reports (Dutchess County, December 2020 to August 2026).
- NYS DEC wastewater facility and CSO outfall map layers; design flows from data.ny.gov, Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants.
- City of Poughkeepsie, Combined Sewer Overflow: Challenges & Solutions (Long Term Control Plan).
- Town of Poughkeepsie, Comprehensive Plan, chapter 8, Utilities.
- Village of Wappingers Falls Board of Trustees meetings, February and May 2025, as reported.
- Town of Hyde Park, Route 9 Sewer District map, plan and report (2020) and Town Board agenda (April 2025).
- Compiled by residents from public documents; it may contain errors. Data retrieved September 26, 2026.