$1.7M grant for Saranac Lake sewer project
Adirondack Daily Enterprise
December16, 2015
SARANAC LAKE - The village has been awarded a big grant to help pay for a major sewer line replacement project.
The village will receive a $1.7 million grant for improvements to the sewer system on Dorsey Street that took place earlier this year.
It's one of 45 infrastructure projects across the state that will share a combined $75 million in grants, according to a press release issued Tuesday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office. The money comes from the New York State Water Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2015, designed to provides $200 million in grants over three state fiscal years.
"These grants will make it easier for localities to make the critical upgrades that ensure their water systems continue to provide New Yorkers with safe, high-quality water," Cuomo said in the release.
In addition to the grant, Saranac Lake's $7 million Dorsey Street project is expected to be supplemented by a $5.2 million loan from the state Environmental Facilities Corporation.
The funding will pay for "planning, design and construction of collection system improvements to minimize inflow and infiltration, and improve water quality in Saranac Lake," according to information provided by the governor's office.
Contractors hired by the village started work in April replacing a 700-foot section of sewer line that runs down Dorsey Street, along the Saranac River. The project wrapped up in early July.
Around the region, other communities awarded funding as part of the same program include the village of Malone, which will see a $3.1 million grant, and the town of Willsboro, which was awarded a $746,000 grant.
The Adirondack Council, an environmental group, praised Tuesday's announcement as a win for the Park.
"These grants are welcome news to Adirondack communities that needed help closing the gap between what they could afford to pay for clean water and what the actual work would cost," the group's executive director, William C. Janeway, said in a press release.
