THOMPSON—One of two information sessions about the Kiamesha Lake and Emerald Green Waste Water Treatment Plant upgrade was held at the Thompson Town Hall on Tuesday, November 15, right before the regular Town Board meeting at 7 p.m.

During this session, Helen Budrock, a Senior Planner at Delaware Engineering, discussed what it would take to upgrade the aging wastewater system for the two districts’ existing wastewater plants.

Kiamesha Lake

According to Budrock, the Kiamesha Lake WWTP serves approximately 1,100 residents, along with the many businesses in downtown Thompson. This sewer district also includes the Resorts World Catskills Casino.

The plant, built in 1956, needs to be upgraded to meet the new standards set by the state for the plant’s effluents of residual chlorine, and a new UV disinfection system is required in order to make that happen, according to the town.

Furthermore, components that make up the wastewater treatment plant are “nearing the end of their useful life and need to be replaced,” according to the technical summary provided by Delaware Engineering along with the buildings used by the Sewer Department.

The plant has a maximum capacity of two million gallons and operates at 50 percent capacity. Also, sludge from other wastewater plants within the town is hauled and moved to the Kiamesha plant for processing.

The upgrade cost to this plant is approximately $27 million, and $7.4 million in grant funding has been secured to help pay for the upgrade.

The rest of the debt from the upgrade will be paid by district users only and not the whole town, said Budrock. Tax-exempt users who benefit from the district will also pay the sewer debt.

The next step is for the New York State Department of Environmental Control to review the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) Permit and for the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation to prepare the final grant funding package.

Once everything is applied for and granted, the upgrades can begin in 2024.

The Town of Thompson will be holding an additional information session regarding Kiamesha Plant on Tuesday, December 6, at 6 pm in the courtroom of the Thompson Town Hall.

Emerald Green

The Emerald Green Waste Water Treatment Plant was built in 1960, with the last upgrade in 1993.

As for the Kiamesha Plant, the new effluent standards for residual chlorine went into effect earlier this year, and new UV disinfection equipment will be needed to meet the new standards.

Not only is the plant nearing the end of its designed life, but the plant is also operating at 70 percent of its capacity of 410,000 gallons per day, according to Budrock.

The upgrade will increase the capacity to 475,000, which was recommended to the town in order to handle “modest growth.”

Moreover, the sewer plant does not have on-site processing facilities to process the sludge that comes in; therefore, the sludge is hauled over to the Kiamesha Plant for processing. The new upgrade will eliminate that process and the cost of transportation.

According to the town, the approximately $15 million upgrade will happen in phases, with the first phase beginning in 2023 with the new UV disinfection system.

In the following years, phase two will include basin repairs, tank improvements and other efficiency upgrades, according to the engineering report.

To help pay for the upgrade, the town has secured $3.8 million in grant funding, with the sewer district users paying the rest of the $15 million.

The next step for the Emerald Green plant is for the New York State Department of Environmental Control to review the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) Permit and to approve the “specs” for Phase I of the project.

The expected start of the upgrade project will be in 2024.

The Town of Thompson will be holding an additional information session on Emerald Green on Tuesday, December 6, at 6:30 p.m. in the courtroom of the Thompson Town Hall. 

More information can be found at https://thompsonsewerupgrades.com.