Approximately 80% of the 35,000 households in the County and over 90% of all businesses are served by the Chemung County Sewer Districts. Jointly, the Sewer Districts process approximately 18 million gallons of wastewater per day and meet state and federal discharge requirements.
The Chemung County Elmira Sewer District services the City of Elmira, the Town of Elmira, and portions of the Town of Southport. The treatment facility went online in 1987 and utilizes a trickling filter/solids contact treatment technology. The collection network encompasses some 4,300 acres and services approximately 45,000 people.
Chemung County Sewer District Number 1, formed in the early 1960s, serves an area directly north of the City of Elmira. This area includes all the Village of Elmira Heights, the majority of the Village of Horseheads, and portions of the Towns of Elmira, Horseheads, Veteran, and Big Flats. The Sewer District Number 1 collection network consists of approximately 100 miles of mainline sewer that discharges to a trickling filter facility that was built in 1962 and last upgraded in 1989.