Proposals received for work at wastewater treatment facility
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Six consulting firms have submitted proposals to draw up an “options plan” as part of an effort to treat nitrogen at the wastewater treatment plant on the East Strand, an official said.
City Engineer Ralph Swenson said the city is looking for options on how to do the work to possibly make the estimated cost of $7.9 million to meet new state requirements less expensive.
The report would also examine the possibility that the nitrogen work be done in conjunction with other required work to separate the city’s stormwater and sewage flows, Swenson said.
Swenson did not identify the firms that submitted proposals or how much the option report might cost.
Swenson added that Mayor Steve Noble and the Common Council would have to sign off on a firm before it could be hired. The nitrogen work is being required by the state Department of Environmental Conservation,.
“The fist step in that plan is to determine exactly what we have to do to comply,” Swenson said. “(Then) Is the DEC going to hold fast, and are there other processes that we can employ that will do the same thing?”
The report should be completed in July, according to Swenson. Once that report is completed, the company selected to do the options report will be employed to do a fuller design plan.
In February, the Common Council authorized the city to seek grant money to help offset the cost of the $7.9 million in required improvements at the municipal wastewater treatment plant. Lawmakers unanimously adopted a resolution authorizing the city to apply for up to $1.25 million for the work from a New York State Water Infrastructure Improvement Act grant.
Swenson has said Kingston would apply for that state funding if it fails to win its application for 40 percent of the estimated cost of the project to be covered by the state Intermunicipal Grant Program. The council previously approved applying for that funding.
Swenson has said the treatment plant improvements are necessary due to a change in the city’s Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The city was notified of the change in late October. The new discharge parameters go into effect in approximately 3 ½ years, Swenson said in a letter to Common Council President James Noble.
Swenson said the state is requiring the city to treat for nitrogen above and beyond what it currently does, which will necessitate changes in some of the processes at the plant.
The city currently is involved in an unrelated repair and upgrade project at the wastewater treatment plant costing approximately $3.3 million. Much of the cost for that work is expected to be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency because some of the repairs and upgrades were necessary due to flooding during Superstorm Sandy in October 2012.