Upriver sewer plants are hit hard

Local plants damaged but operational

By TOM KANE

RIVER VALLEY - The sewer plants of the Towns of Delaware, Tusten and the Village of Hancock, all in New York, received serious damage during the recent flood. None is releasing raw sewage and all are in operation.

“We had damage to three of our four settling beds at the plant near the old land fill off Engelmann Road, and to our pumping station on Kirk Road,” said Tusten town supervisor Ben Johnson.

Solids got into the settling beds during the flood and clogged the filter.

“The plant is working but it’s very slow,” Johnson said. The sand in the settling beds has to be replaced. “It’s a very special kind of sand that has to trucked in from Buffalo,” he said.

The pumping station has to be pumped out by Lang Industries on a regular basis, he said.

The cost to repair the beds will probably reach $150,000 and the work on the pump will run from $15,000 to $30,000, he said.

Johnson expects FEMA and the state to cover the cost.

“Last April, we had the same problem and FEMA paid for 75 percent, the state paid 12.5 percent and the town paid 12.5,” Johnson said. This time, he expects that the town will not have to pay anything.

“We should be up and running 100 percent by the fall,” he said.

The Town of Delaware wasn’t so lucky.

“The work that has to be done will cost between $750,000 and a million,” said Jim Scheutzow, Town of Delaware Supervisor. “There’s serious damage to the settling beds and to other equipment,” he said. Lang Industries is pumping sewage that the beds can’t handle. Scheutzow, who has had a preliminary meeting with FEMA, expects the agency to pay for most of the cost of repairs.

In Hancock, NY Bernard Wormuth, chief operator of the sewer plant, said, “We sustained a lot of damage and had to be evacuated for a day but are maintaining treatment now.”

The plant never released raw sewage as happened in Deposit, to the north.

“Our settling beds are operating well, as are our primary and secondary treatment operations,” he said. Repairs could reach a cost of about one million dollars. “Maybe even more,” he said.

What was lost was vital equipment. “We are operating on back-up systems, which are okay for now but would go down if we had another serious flood,” Wormuth said.

Wormuth has applied to FEMA for assistance.

“The New York Department of Environmental Conservation is closely monitoring the plant,” he said.