City eyes $1M stormwater grant

KINGSTON, N.Y. » The city could seek a $1 million grant from the state to separate stormwater from the Hasbrouck Combined Sewer Overflow system.

The Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee on Wednesday adopted a resolution authorizing the city to apply for the grant from the state Environmental Facilities Corporation. The resolution must still be voted on by the full council, which meets again July 11. The grant applications are due late next month.

City Engineer Ralph Swenson said if Kingston obtains the grant funding, it could potentially separate out up to 24 million gallons of stormwater from the Hasbrouck Combined Sewer Overflow system. That would reduce the amount of matter flowing to the city’s wastewater treatment plant, he said.

“We would be doing two things,” Swenson said. “One, we would be reducing flows to the treatment plant by that project. And the other, we would be reducing overflows to the Rondout Creek during storm conditions. So, that would improve water quality in the Rondout Creek.”

Swenson said a previous state grant had paid for a study performed by the engineering firm of Tighe and Bond, which is based in Westfield, Mass. That study outlined the scope of work and costs of separating the sewer and stormwater systems in the Hasbrouck Avenue sewershed.

Swenson said the report was submitted to the state Department of Environmental Conservation for review, but the city has not yet received feedback. He said the new grant could allow the city to move forward with the separation project identified by Tighe and Bond.

The grant would reimburse the city for 85 percent of the project’s

cost, Swenson said. He said that means the city would

pay $150,000 for the work. Swenson added that he felt the city’s chances of being awarded the grant are high since it follows the engineering and planning grant previously provided.