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| May 05, 2024 |
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General News: Sewer Costs Impact Town Budget
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| The sewer plant on Shore Rd. |
November 05, 2008
When people go to the public hearing on the proposed 2009 Cornwall budget on Thursday, they will learn that many of the additional costs facing the town result from new requirements to upgrade the sewer system that have been issued by the Department of Environment Conservation (DEC).
The DEC issued the town and village, joint operators of the sewer facility on Shore Road, a new permit in October and in it the agency laid out a timeline for identifying and repairing leaks in an aging sewer pipeline system and for upgrading the quality of water discharged into the Moodna Creek. If the new requirements are not met, the municipalities could face hefty fines from the DEC.
In a recent interview, town supervisor Kevin Quigley and town engineer Mark Edsall agreed that the upgrades were necessary and Quigley said he has begun planning to finance the town’s portion of the cost by adding $45,000 for sewer-related costs to the budget next year. The work would be done in phases over three years.
“We’ve got to deal with it or we will be paying fines,” supervisor Quigley said, noting that he had started planning for it shortly after his election earlier this year. “I saw the sense and the urgency of it.”
Quigley said that even before they got the DEC permit, he had asked Congressman John Hall to help secure $1.2 million in federal money to refurbish the sewer plant. Some New York state money may also be available, he said, but the financial resources of the state already are shrinking fast because of the current financial crisis.
The DEC wants the sewer plant to reduce the amount of chlorine and the amount of oxygen in the water that is discharged into the Moodna. The DEC also is requiring increased monitoring of other metals and trace elements in the outflow and the installation of a back-up generator. Mark Edsall and sewer plant manager Andy Marston are looking at how to accomplish these goals and they have one year to report their plan to the DEC, which must approve it before the work begins.
Perhaps more daunting is the DEC’s mandate that all sewer lines in the town and village be tested to find out where storm water is leaking into the system and causing the sewer plant to overflow. Edsall said that the plant has a normal flow of 8-900,000 gallons a day, but on a rainy day it can reach four or five million gallons. “It flushes the plant,” Edsall said.
The DEC would like the town to put a camera into every sewer line to look for leaks. Edsall explained that it would cost $200,000 just to find the leaks that way and even more to repair them. He recommends instead a hydraulic mapping and metering approach that would be less expensive for the town.
Supervisor Quigley also noted that the sewer line on Mailler Avenue has been a problem for years that can’t be put off any longer. He said they intend to apply for a very low-cost revolving loan from the state to finance that.
“We’re organized and we’ve got time,” Edsall said of the town’s planning to meet the DEC requirements. Edsall , who is also a trustee in the village, also said that he is unaware of any action by the engineer for Cornwall-on-Hudson to plan for the upgrades and repairs. The village is responsible for one-third of the cost of operating the sewer plant and will be required to identify and repair leaks in the sewer pipes that run underneath it.
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