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ALBANY---More than $8 million has been awarded by Gov. George Pataki for 12 North Country communities to implement critical water quality projects that will protect the Adirondacks and provide needed infrastructure improvements. The projects will help reduce the amount of phosphorus and other contaminants that enter Adirondack lakes and rivers, helping to improve the ecosystems while also providing reliable sources of sewage collection, treatment and disposal.
"New York has made significant investments in projects statewide that improve water quality by creating new wastewater treatment facilities and upgrading existing ones," Gov. Pataki said. "Today we continue that commitment by helping these Adirondack communities implement key projects that will help protect our waterways and drinking water supplies from pollution and other harmful impacts to our natural resources."
A total of $8.075 million is being made available to Essex, Elizabethtown, Moriah, and Ticonderoga in Essex County; St. Regis Falls and Tupper Lake in Franklin County; Wanakena and Newton Falls in St. Lawrence County; Dannemora in Clinton County; Northampton in Fulton County; Indian Lake in Hamilton County; and Putnam in Washington County. The funding will be administered by the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) as part of the New York State Technology and Development Program. The assistance to these smaller communities will target the protection of Adirondack lakes and rivers by fully or partially funding improvements to the municipalities' sewage treatment, collection and delivery systems.
Among the funding announced is $1 million for the Town of Elizabethtown, Essex County, to help construct a wastewater treatment plant and collection system. The community is located on the Boquet River, a tributary to Lake Champlain. Small lot size and shallow groundwater make individual on-site septic systems an ineffective means of wastewater treatment and the town is pursuing the construction of a new treatment facility expected to cost approximately $8.1 million. The plant will be instrumental in reducing the amount of phosphorus and helping to prevent the discharge of harmful pollutants into Lake Champlain.
The list of recipients includes:
Essex County: Town of Essex - $1 million construction of a wastewater treatment plant and collection system
Town of Elizabethtown - $1 million construction of a wastewater treatment plant and collection system
Town of Ticonderoga - $1 million upgrading of the existing wastewater treatment plant
Town of Moriah - $200,000 replacement of the Mineyard Pump Station
Essex/Washington Counties:
Towns of Ticonderoga and Putnam - $1 million provide sewer district extensions at Black Point Road
Franklin County:
Hamlet of St. Regis Falls, Town of Waverly - $575,000 purchase aeration tank/clarifier covers and replacing the existing sludge treatment system with a low technology natural reed bed unit
Village of Tupper Lake, Town of Altamont - $875,000 upgrade two existing aging pump stations and construct an equalization tank to help improve plant performance
St. Lawrence County:
Hamlet of Wanakena, Town of Fine - $750,000 correction of infiltration and inflow issues
Hamlet of Newton Falls, Town of Clifton - $1 million construction of a wastewater treatment plant
Clinton County:
Village of Dannemora, Town of Dannemora - $75,000 installation of a permanent phosphorus removal system at the Village's wastewater treatment plant
Fulton County:
Town of Northampton - $200,000 replacement of sanitary sewers to correct inflow/infiltration issues
Hamilton County:
Town of Indian Lake - $400,000 replacement of some sewers in Route 28 to address inflow/infiltration issues 11-17-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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