AUBURN -- The city wants its wastewater treatment plant to continue to accept water from natural gas mines. And it will pay an engineering firm to help make sure that happens.

The Auburn city council unanimously voted Tuesday to pay Camp Dresser and Mckee no more than $5,000 to evaluate the plant. Requested by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the review will examine the wastewater plant's ability to process and treat water that is a byproduct from natural gas mining.

According to Robert Game, the city's utilities director, Auburn has been processing mine wastewater for years. But the DEC has become recently concerned as gas exploration in the state has risen thanks to the productive Marcellus Shale.

A mining process known as hydraulic fracturing, or frac mining, uses a mix of water, sand and chemicals to break rock formations deep in the earth and extract the natural gas. The water contains various chemicals, and facilities must be specially equipped to process the material.

Game said most of the mining water treated at the Auburn plant is not from hydraulic fracturing, and thus does not contain the same chemicals. But because the Marcellus Shale has produced a lot of gas through frac mining, the DEC has become extra cautious, he said.

"We're getting dragged into the whole thing," said Game.

For the full report, read Wednesday's edition of The Citizen.