The City of Rochester Water Bureau is seeking feedback for how they should bring Highland and Cobbs Hill Reservoirs into compliance with the EPA’s Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT2). The project managers have emphasized compliance with this rule requires major changes to both reservoirs and parks regardless of which solution is chosen.

A draft project scope detailing the possible alternatives for getting into compliance with the rule as well as the benefits and drawbacks of each solution has been released. The draft scope can be read here. The current alternatives, in short, are UV treatment, constructing underground tanks in the location of the reservoirs or, in the case of Highland, decommissioning.

This week marks the beginning of the bureau drafting the Environmental Impact Statement for the project, with the draft to be released in Spring of 2027 and the final EIS completed in Fall 2027. Your input is sought for which alternative in the above project scope is your preferred for the water bureau to move forward with, comments or concerns with any of the alternatives, and any additional concerns not mentioned in the scope you believe need to be addressed in the Environmental Impact Statement.

Your comments should be submitted to michael.bushart@cityofrochester.gov before July 24^th. To read more and find out when the next meeting is, go to the project website