Mud gets into village's sewage treatment plant
The operators of the Dock Street building hope there will be no permanent damage to the facility.
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. » The operators of the village’s sewage treatment plant hope there will be no permanent damage from a mud slide that impacted the Dock Street building last week.
Plant Superintendent Alphonse Marino said the July 11 mud slide was triggered by heavy rains.
“It gave us 19 inches of mud in our basement, which we are still cleaning up, possibly destroying two of our pumps,” Marino said at Monday’s meeting of the Village Board.
“All of our pumps were underwater, and these are $40,000 apiece,” Marino said. “Our hot water heater is gone. Our boiler, I don’t know whether it works or not. I didn’t want to start it up because ... if there’s water damage and you try to start it, you create a problem.”
Marino said fans are being used to dry the equipment before any attempt is made to return it to service.
The mud slide came down a steep hill that starts at Post Street and ends at Dock Street. The sewage treatment plant is at 111 Dock St.
Marino said it was third time in 20 years that the building had been affected by a mud slide.
“The water came down so hard and fast that it lifted one of the catch basin covers and that weighs about 300 pounds,” he said. “... The other way that water got into the building is an air vent. That air vent sits only about eight inches off the ground. I’m going to move it up about four feet so this way, when the mud hits the wall hopefully it won’t drain into the building.”
Another possible remedy is building a trench or a wall around the treatment plant, village officials said.