The Monroe County Water Authority's proposed eastside water project has gotten past another potential roadblock.

The project was included in the county's 2008-2013 Capital Improvement Program, which the County Legislature approved last week.

The $80 million project includes a station in Webster that would pump Lake Ontario water to an inland water-treatment plant. Approval of the CIP, which was unanimous, may be the project's last local hurdle. Democrats have opposed it, but now there isn't much they can do to stop it, barring a change in the Water Authority's leadership, says County Legislator Paul Haney.

Although the Democrats voted in favor of the larger capital plan, they did try to delete the water plant. Haney's amendment to remove it was voted down along party lines.

In December, the Legislature authorized the Water Authority to bond the millions of dollars needed to design and build the project. Democrats voted against that authorization.

The authority has agreed to delay construction of the new facilities for 18 months while it negotiates a new water-sharing agreement with the city. The current agreement expires at the end of the year. The moratorium on construction won't expire until the spring of 2008.

Aside from that, state permits are the only things holding back the project, says Water Authority spokesperson Dick Metzger. Much of the design work is done, says Metzger, but if the permits are approved with any conditions, those will have to be incorporated in the design.

Once the permits are in hand and the designs are completed, the work will be put out to bid, says Metzger.

The plant has drawn criticism from Democrats, some Webster residents, and the Rochester Business Alliance. Critics have questioned whether the plant is needed, since the demand for water hasn't been increasing and the region's population isn't growing.

There has also been concern that the plant could spur suburban sprawl, not only in Webster but farther east. Haney, who has been an outspoken critic of the plan, says he believes the Water Authority wants to expand into Wayne County. That could draw business and residential development out of Monroe County, he says. Water Authority officials say that requests to expand water service into new areas would have to come from individual municipalities.

Haney says he is also concerned that the Water Authority could use the extra capacity to convince the city to sell its water system to the county authority. If the authority no longer needed to buy water from Rochester, it would be a financial blow to the city.