Cities across the state have been looking at ways to improve sewage and water systems for decades. In Binghamton, the goal is for $8.5 million in investments to completely transform its underground systems, which have posed challenges for years.

"These street utilities are oftentimes ... the most expensive part of an infrastructure project," said Binghamton Mayor Jared Kraham.

And while it may not be the most exciting part for residents, it’s often the most important. Underground sewage and sanitary systems play a crucial role in the health of a city.

But for so many years in cities like Binghamton, and others across the state, they’ve simply been forgotten about.

"In many cases, water lines and sewer lines in Binghamton are sometimes nearly 100 years old. We were doing a project on the West Side a couple of years ago, and there was a water line clearly from the turn of the 20th century," said Kraham.

So, what does this mean for residents?

Currently, most major cities operate with a combined stormwater and sanitary sewer system. That means rain and sewage are often mixing underground, placing the burden of safety on the water coming from your tap on local sewage treatment plants.

Many of these systems are also unfit to handle heavy rain, leading to some unwanted scenarios.

"When it's heavy rainstorms, what ends up happening is there's a thing called the Combined Sewer Overflow or CSO, which means that mostly stormwater, but partially untreated sewage is being released into the river systems, affecting wildlife and certainly affecting the Chesapeake Bay watershed," said Kraham.

Binghamton is looking to eliminate that problem one street at a time, with $8.5 million going toward the improvement of 40 neighborhood streets, with most of that work taking place underground.

It’s Kraham’s hope that it’ll be just the start of a more environmentally friendly city.

"The more times that we can separate that sanitary sewer from stormwater, it means that the only thing going down to the joint sewage treatment plant is that sanitary sewer. It's something that they can handle, and that stormwater is making its way safely from the street, and here on the first ward, right to the Chenango River," said Kraham.

While the results won’t be immediate, this is hoped to be the first step in making sure Binghamton is both safer and greener in the years to come. City leaders are now seeking both state and federal grants to continue improving underground systems even further.