WEEDSPORT - The wastewater treatment facilities plant in the village of Weedsport will soon be upgraded.

Engineers from Barton & Loguidice, P.C. met with village trustees Friday afternoon with drawings of their final plan to be submitted to the Department of Environmental Conservation for approval. The $4.2 million plan has been in the works since early 2005, when the firm began its initial engineering study.

“What happens next?” Mayor Jean Saroodis asked.

“The plan will next get shipped to the DEC for review,” Barton & Loguidice engineer Eric Pond said. “We expect it to take about two months for review, and while that's happening, everyone here will have sets of the plans. After that, it will go out for bid.”

Pond said the bidding process will probably take place in mid-winter. He figured the bidding process would take another month, with a June groundbreaking in 2009, possibly earlier.

The construction phase would take a year, with crews working through the winter. That means the upgraded facility should be up and operating by 2010.

The original 1966 plant served a smaller population. Now the equipment is aging, and with new housing developments being built in the village, increased capacity will be necessary.

Engineer Brian Skidmore presented the board with a progressive set of prints showing a schematic treatment of the new wastewater process. These included maps of the influent sewer system, automatic bar screen, washer, and compactor together with new submersible influent pumps, although these will be located in the dry well

Skidmore said the compact design fits the pump system into a stairwell.

“Each pump is assigned to a sequencing batch reactor,” he said. “Once the first tank is full, the waste is treated and the next pump turns on. Solids settle to the bottom, while a floating decanter drains the clear liquid from the top into the brook.”

Adjustments can be made to the system when there is a flood stage in Cold Springs Brook. A flow proportioning feature inside the tank, based on time, keeps about the same amount of clean water in each tank. All pumps can be adjusted to work with any tank.

Chlorine added to water in the tank goes through a series of baffles to kill microorganisms. An aeration cascade, designed to meet minimum oxygen levels, mixes the affluent as it tumbles with air without using any extra power. The mixture has to fall at least nine feet to get the proper oxygen mixture.

“When the creek floods, the tumbling length is reduced, so another element kicks in to provide aeration,” Skidmore said. The mixture fills concrete tanks of the digester, where clean affluent is decantered off the top. The sludge goes to the bottom, then is pumped into a press and treated with chemicals - chlorine and sodium bisulfate. It's chlorinated, then dechlorinated, finally going to the compost heap and distributed to residents for everything but vegetable gardens.

The village expects to be eligible for rebates from New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, as well as expected federal funds for infrastructure through a stimulus plan for municipal projects.

Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net