RV park sewer problems 2.jpg

Many RV owners staying at the State Fair's new RV lot had to buy extra sewage pipe to reach the drains. The concrete blocks are 8 to 12 inches above ground level, so RV owners have to lift the pipes to get rid of the sewage.

(Glenn Coin | gcoin@syracuse.com)

Syracuse, N.Y. -- Each morning, Jim White and his wife have to lift the sewage drain hose from their RV, foot by foot, to empty the waste into the drain nearly 50 feet from the trailer in the New York State Fair's brand-new RV park.

The concrete barrier around the drain sits about 10 inches higher than the ground, and RVs drain by gravity, not pumps. That means that the waste stays in the flexible pipe unless RV owners manually raise the pipe.

"It takes two of us to drain it," said White, of Canastota. "Sometimes it falls apart; sometimes it doesn't."

Another problem, White noted, is that the drain fitting is bigger than the standard RV sewage hose fitting, so there's no secure connection. To keep the end of the hose from flopping onto the ground when it's being drained, White has to weigh it down with the heavy metal drain cover.

The drain is so far from his trailer that White had to buy more 3-inch hose when he arrived at the fair this week.

"I needed 55 feet of hose, and my trailer is only 33 feet long," he said. "This is my first time staying here, and it's probably going to be the last time."

Tim Reese, a State Fair exhibitor from California, walks past the concrete block that holds the sewage outflow for his RV in the fair's new RV lot. The concrete blocks are 8 to 12 inches above ground level, so RV owners have to lift the pipes to get rid of the sewage.

White is one of many campers in the new RV park dealing with sewage drains.

Tim Reese, an exhibitor from California, has the same problem.

"With these sewage connections, somebody dropped the ball," Reese said.

Some people jacked up their trailers to raise them above the concrete drain boxes. Others used accordian-like frames to lift the 3-inch hoses above the ground. One man has even used buckets until he can leave the park and buy more hose.

This new Empire RV Park is part of a $50 million renovation to the fair. The RV park has been expanded 222 to 315 spaces, and sits where the grandstand used to be before before it was torn down earlier this year. The entire park is gravel, but fair officials said it will be planted with grass before next year.

Fair director Troy Waffner said the RV park opened for the Syracuse Nationals car show last month, and he didn't receive any complaints about the sewage disposal. After hearing about problems this week, Waffner said, the fair is working with people who are having problems, offering to buy additional hose or even hire a pumping service to clean out RV tanks throughout the fair.

"We'll do whatever makes sense," Waffner said. "Those people paid to stay at the RV park for 12 or 16 days, and they shouldn't have to worry about it."

After the fair, the RV park will be covered with soil and grass. That will bring the concrete drains to ground level, he said.

Many longtime fair campers say that despite the sewage problems, the new park is a big improvement. Electrical and water hookups are easy to use, the lots are bigger, rain water doesn't puddle up around their sites, and access to the fair is easier now that the big wall around the racetrack is gone.

"I think they did a wonderful job," said Andrew Shova, of Cicero. "You have more room and you're closer to everything. And the landscaping is beautiful."

Contact Glenn Coin: Email | Twitter | Google + | (315) 470-3251