Mark Blauer, water system consultant and grant writer extraordinaire, came to the September 19 Wawarsing town board meeting to discuss improvements to the Kerhonkson Sewer District.

The improvements in question are the replacement of the beds of reeds used to filter water at the wastewater treatment plant. The reed beds are failing because, as Blauer explained they “don’t work in this climate.” One other additional problem with the reed beds is the use of a potentially invasive species that has been known to crowd out native plants in wetlands.

This has been on the radar for a while, and in June 2022, Bauer met with the Department of Environmental Conservation to discuss sewage releases from the plant into the Rondout Creek. That discussion of the plant’s violations, ironically, helped secure the grant money to replace the reed beds.

Blauer wrote a grant proposal for $800,000 for the town to purchase a sludge press, a large piece of machinery that forces sludge through a series of filters – a bit like a giant French press coffee maker. Currently the town is paying to have wet sludge trucked away, which is expensive. The sludge press will remove the water from the sludge, lowering the cost dramatically. Blauer explained that the sludge press is being assembled by Goshen’s TAM Enterprises off-site and will be brought in when ready.

However, Blauer still has concerns, and he took the occasion of the board meeting to enter a plea concerning the lack of any redundancy in the area’s water systems.

In discussion of the Napanoch Water System, which has been extensively refurbished to replace pipe lining, Blauer suggested that the town should put aside money every year to build up a fund to cope with emergencies and eventual needs for replacement of expensive equipment. “Don’t run too lean,” he said several times. “To rehabilitate wells, build some dollars into the budget.”

He said that Kerhonkson’s water system was so “run down” that just about every component had to be “replaced.”

Swinging back to the wastewater treatment plant, he noted that, while it’s going to be updated, it still has no redundancy. “You really need more than one treatment path,” he said, “for maintenance and in case of a failure. If it fails then sewage goes into the river.”

If that were to happen, the NYS DEC would send notices of violation, and if action was not swiftly taken, they would issue fines which could reach up to $37,500 a day. Hence his conclusion, “You really want to have redundancy.”

Board member Joe Stoeckeler agreed that it would be wise for the town to take “preventive measures.”

What’s needed, Blauer said, is a “second treatment train, in case of emergency.” He suggested that ideally a treatment plant would have “two sides,” so that one can be shut down while the other receives “full, detailed maintenance.”

Blauer made the point that the DEC officials are concerned with protecting their own reputations; they cannot let things slide. Also, communities downstream would complain immediately if sewage were to be released into the river – and who could blame them? “As it is now you can’t shut down one side of things to do maintenance. If there was an incident the DEC will say ‘Fix this now!’”

Stoeckeler concurred that “Not having backups of something so crucial is a risk for the town. The repercussions of failure far outweigh any expenses up front.”

The public hearing produced no further comment from the public and was closed.