City continues to prepare for water treatment project

Jun. 16—WATERTOWN — City officials are gearing up to start construction of a crucial costly water treatment plant project next year to reduce two disinfection byproducts that prompted drinking water violations over the last several years.

Last week, council members learned the major improvements to the water treatment plant will cost $58.3 million and work is expected to be completed around June 2027.

Nonetheless, council members were surprised to learn that the Huntington Street water treatment plant has been in compliance for the two disinfection byproducts for the past year.

After last week's meeting, Mayor Sarah V.C. Compo and council members acknowledged that they had no idea that it was in compliance, stressing it was good news.

But Water Superintendent Vicky Murphy wasn't surprised that the plant was in compliance with strict Environment Protection Agency standards for that length of time.

It's happened before since the EPA established the restrictions in 2014, she said.

In 2017, the city was in violation of the standards for the first time and "it's gone back and forth" ever since, Murphy said.

It depends on the condition of the Black River, the source where the city gets its water.

"We were two years out of compliance, two years in compliance, out of compliance for two years and now one year in compliance," she said.

"It's just the way that the river is. It depends on the river."

The two disinfection byproducts are total trihalomethanes, or TTHM, and haloacetic acids, or HAA5, that are created during the disinfection process when they react with organic material from the city's water supply.

To improve the situation, the Water Department has taken steps to change operations. For instance, Water Department staff have added more potassium permanganate— an oxidizing agent used as a disinfectant — and increased chlorine, although that strategy cannot be used during the spring when there's more turbulence in the river, Murphy explained.

She also stressed that the city must move forward with the costly project, citing the unpredictability of the river and the two contaminants.

This past week, city officials gave an update on the situation to the Development Authority of the North Country and the town of Pamelia, which purchases water from the city.

The two stakeholders also agreed that the city needs to move forward with the project, Murphy said.

On Thursday, Pamelia Town Supervisor Scott Allen said his municipality "supports" the project and that the city provides "good quality water" to its customers.

GHD Engineering, the Syracuse engineering firm that conducted a yearlong study on how to proceed with the project, continues to design the plant upgrades.

GHD is being paid $3,701,605 for the engineering work.

Last week, Kevin Castro, an engineer with GHD, told council members that the EPA has the primary authority for byproduct regulations.

"It's really going to be the EPA's call as to how they interpret the recent data," he said. "They are aware" through reporting that the city has been making operational adjustments as they can to keep those byproducts to a minimum.

In response to last week's GHD presentation, council members were generally in agreement that the project must be completed.

But Councilman Robert O. Kimball stressed that it will be up to the EPA whether the two byproducts remain under federal levels.

"We have to continue to keep an eye on what the numbers continue to do," he said.

After hearing the new numbers, Councilman Benjamin P. Shoen hopes that the project might not be the immediate concern that it has been.

To get a better understanding of the current situation, he'd like city staff to provide council members with the contents of the EPA consent order and information about the agency's regulations.

Councilwoman Lisa A. Ruggiero wondered why city staff weren't more forthcoming with the news about being compliant for an entire year. It would have been good for residents to know that the water was safe and the city was not in violation, she said.

However, City Manager Eric Wagenaar said the information was distributed when the 2023 Annual Water Quality Report was sent out to the public in March.

He agreed to do a better job in the future of communicating with council members and the public about its status, however.

Earlier this month, the City Council authorized applying for $17 million in federal Department of Defense funding to help finance the project. The application is due today. The city will hear this summer whether the application is successful. The city is eligible for the DoD funding because it provides water to Fort Drum.

Under the water contract with the city, DANC will pay 25% of the project. The city also has obtained a $5 million state grant through the Department of Health. The state also promised to arrange for an interest-free loan up to $14 million. The city also received $1 million in federal funding for the project.

The City Council also has approved $61 million in bonding to finance the project.

In 2020, the city was placed under a consent order by the EPA to submit a Corrective Action Plan to comply with maximum levels of the two disinfection byproducts.

When the city is in violation, water customers receive postcards in the mail notifying them about the disinfection byproducts exceeding acceptable levels at the plant.