Villages will vote on regional plant

MONTOUR FALLS--Watkins Glen Mayor Mark Swinnerton and Montour Falls Mayor John King said their boards will vote on whether to approve the proposed regional wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) this week. The Watkins Glen village board met to vote on the issue after press time Tuesday evening, Jan. 20, while the Montour Falls village board will meet Thursday, Jan. 22 to decide on the matter. Both mayors expressed confidence the issue would be approved during each of the meetings.

The mayors made this announcement to some 50 people at the Montour Falls fire hall during the fourth public information session on the regional wastewater treatment plant Wednesday, Jan. 14. The meeting was held to bring the public up to speed on the project and provide updates to progress being made. Swinnerton said the total project cost will be $24.7 million with a yearly operations and maintenance cost of $674,300. Swinnerton estimated construction should begin by 2017.
"This is very important to our region both environmentally and economically," Swinnerton said. He added the villages were recently awarded $1.8 million in grants for the design process back in December, calling it "a huge stepping stone for this project and momentum builder." Swinnerton said this money is part of $6 million overall in grants the villages will be looking at for the project.
Swinnerton said since the last public meeting, the villages have agreed to locate the site at the historic UDS site along the canal. He called the site analysis "quite a process," adding it "wasn't any fun to go through." Swinnerton said finding a workable site was not an easy task given the environment the towns are located in with marshes and steep slopes on either side. He said the site is currently owned by the New York State Canal Authority and is bordered on the east by wetlands. Swinnerton said they have been working with engineers to mitigate the environmental impact on the area, adding they have even worked with an eagle expert to reduce the impact on their nearby nest that was discovered at the site about a year ago.
King said there has been significant work reduce the inflow and infiltration (I&I) to each village's sanitary sewer system. He specifies it as the fresh water that enters through cracks in pipes, the misalignment of pipes or faulty manholes that causes an increased flow to the WWTP that needs to be processed. King said the villages have conducted smoke testing to see where the biggest problem areas were.
"Both communities have a major issue with I&I," King said. "[...] Our systems are very old and we have a lot of cracked, broken pipes."
Swinnerton added while the villages have been working to fix some of their I&I issues, they have only "captured the low-hanging fruit" and have not done 100 percent of each village. He said the project to improve their I&I issues is roughly $1.8 million.
"We have been kicking this can down the street for so long, unfortunately we have to pay the piper," Swinnerton said. "This is going to continue for years to come."
Both mayors said the regional plant was the best approach to this issue, as both plants are around 50 years old and need to be replaced. They said it was both better for the environment, as well as more financially viable than building two separate plants or paying to upgrade their current plants.
The mayors discussed the estimated rate increases, saying they are targeting increasing the rates to $48 a month if they receive the grant funds they are seeking. King said while residents will have to pay a little extra the first nine years, from year nine to year 30 it has a far more sustainable cost than the other options. The villages listed their existing user charges to be $33 a month for Watkins Glen and $22 a month for Montour Falls.
The mayors said the regional plant will be governed by a group including two representatives from Watkins Glen and two representatives from Montour Falls, along with one representative from the town of Dix and Reading, alternating years between them. King said they will make recommendations to the village boards, which would then have to be ratified by each board in order to take effect.
"Both boards have looked at this together, and we are in it together," Swinnerton said.