The Ellenville Village Board on Monday authorized a bond resolution seeking up to $6,073,185 for improvements to the wastewater treatment plant. The plant is 12 years old and is in need of repair, as well as the replacement of worn-out machinery.

As Mike Ryman, who runs the village wastewater department, has said many times, all this equipment runs 24/7 and inevitably breaks down and must be replaced. Since it is all specialized equipment, it is all expensive. No one runs down to a box store to pick up some new “blowers” for their sewer plant. It is made to order.

On top of that issue, there are several issues with how the plant was built. Some concrete has been crumbling for years. But the biggest problem is that there’s insufficient ventilation from the main input room, where effluent is passed through screens to remove stuff that shouldn’t be in it, especially wet wipes, and flow levels are monitored. Without adequate ventilation, the humidity grows intense and takes a toll on the equipment.

Engineer and grant writer Mark Blauer is working on federal grants to overcome such issues but, as Ryman explained on Monday, there’s a lot of state money to reach for, too. The village is working now with Delaware Engineering to explore other grant possibilities. Ryman cautioned that the $6 million figure was a maximum; Mayor Evan Trent said it was unlikely to be reached.

To go with the bond authorization, trustees then authorized Trent to sign a proposed agreement with Harris Beach, PLLC, for bond counsel services.

Ryman also spoke about the ongoing effort to identify sources of chemical contamination in the village waste stream. He said that 103 letters had been sent out as queries to customers. Twenty-five received no response. One user has been identified as a source of contamination and another pair are being investigated. Preventing contamination is seen as vital in having the village system pass inspection by the DEC, as failure on that score can be very expensive.