Great
News!
Council's Advocacy Helps
Adirondack Communities Receive Money for
Water Quality Infastructure Projects
As part of our Water Initiative and our mission to ensure the
ecological integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park,
the Adirondack Council has been a staunch advocate for increases
in State and Federal funding for water infrastructure. Across
the Park, aging drinking water and wastewater treatment systems
are failing, causing contamination and unhealthy conditions.
The Council has been actively
working with municipal leaders to identify State and Federal
funding available for communities to ensure that wastewater contamination
is not entering local water bodies. Concurrently, the Council
has been advocating for new programs which would provide funding
for water infrastructure. Water supply and treatment system repairs
and upgrades are some of the most needed infrastructure, and
the estimates for Park-wide funding needed is in the hundreds
of millions of dollars.
Unfortunately, the Park's communities
are small, and often can not afford upgrades to their water infrastructure
even after applying for funding under current State and Federal
programs. These programs often require the municipality to provide
matching funds, and the percentage is high enough that the match
is burdensome on local taxpayers.
This fall, Governor George E.
Pataki, along with State Legislators representing the Adirondack
Park, announced that 12 of the Park's communities would receive
a total of $8 million for improvements to their water quality
infrastructure. These funds will ensure that current problems,
including wastewater releases into the Park's water bodies, failing
pumps, and inflow and infiltration issues, which make sewage
treatment systems less effective. To view the Governor's press
release announcing this vital funding for the Adirondack Park,
Click Here.
The Adirondack Council was thrilled
that our advocacy helped lead to this important allocation of
State funding, and will continue to advocate for additional funds
for communities in the Adirondack Park.
Governor Pataki's
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 17, 2006
GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES
$8 MILLION FOR ADIRONDACK WATER QUALITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
Governor George E. Pataki today
announced more than $8 million 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," Governor 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."
Senator Betty Little said, "Keeping our streams, rivers
and lakes clean and healthy is a goal we all share, but replacing
and making necessary improvements to local infrastructure is
expensive and difficult for local governments to fund on their
own. The grants announced today are very helpful to many North
Country communities and we appreciate Governor Pataki's support
once again."
Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward said, "I welcome the funds
Governor Pataki has made available for the North Country. The
Adirondack Park is a major asset to New York State. However,
the rural character of the Park and the economic limitations
for the residents of this region make municipal infrastructure
projects a heavy burden for taxpayers. There are $30 million
in sewer needs for Essex County alone. Water quality projects
can not be accomplished without financial assistance on the state
and federal levels."
A total of $8.075 million is being made available to the following
municipalities: 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 today 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.
DEC Commissioner Denise M. Sheehan said, "Positive changes
in our water quality can be witnessed throughout New York State
as a result of the commitment Governor Pataki has made to provide
municipalities with the tools and support to fund needed infrastructure
projects. The funding announced today will help continue the
progress we are making in improving the health of Adirondack
water bodies and improving the quality of life for North Country
communities."
Elizabethtown Supervisor Noel Merrihew, III said, "This
important funding allows us to address our critical wastewater
problems here in Elizabethtown. The Governor has recognized this
necessary investment as a priority to provide clean and healthy
communities here in the Adirondacks. The citizens of Elizabethtown
and Essex County are grateful for his vision for us here in the
North Country."
Essex Town Supervisor Ronald Jackson said, "The Town of
Essex is extremely happy to hear that we are receiving a New
York State grant of One Million Dollars from Governor Pataki
to help finance our wastewater treatment plant and collection
system. Essex is the only Hamlet on the Lake without a wastewater
system. This grant is a big step towards reaching that goal that
we have been striving to achieve for over fifty years, since
my Uncle Elvin Cross was the Supervisor. These Grants once again
show that Governor Pataki is the Environmental Governor."
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
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