The village of Groton wastewater treatment plant is continuing to discharge high levels of phosphorous into Owasco Lake, despite promises by the Department of Environmental Conservation to address the problem, state Sen. Michael Nozzolio said Thursday.

Nozzolio last summer called for the DEC to conduct a full and thorough review of the village of Groton's application for its new wastewater treatment plant. At that time, the DEC said, as part of the review process, it would allow local residents to express their concerns with the treatment plant in a period of public comment. But nine months later, this public comment period has not begun, Nozzolio said in a news release.

The DEC indicated that the new Groton wastewater treatment plant might discharge up to four pounds of phosphorous into Owasco Lake each day, nearly double the amount that the village of Moravia's treatment plant is allowed to discharge, Nozzolio said.

"Allowing increased amounts of phosphorous into Owasco Lake would absolutely halt the progress that has been made to clean up the lake. This would be a major step backward in our efforts," Nozzolio said.

Read the full report in Friday's edition of The Citizen.