Lake Placid gets $6.4M grant for sewer upgrades

Mar 8, 2023

LAKE PLACID — The village of Lake Placid on Monday was awarded a $6.4 million state grant to help fund upgrades to its sewer plant.

Lake Placid’s wastewater treatment facility was last upgraded more than 20 years ago, according to Brad Hathaway, the village’s department of public works superintendent. Between updated state mandates for wastewater treatment plants and failing parts in Lake Placid’s plant, Hathaway said it’s time for a complete modernization of the local sewer plant.

Loosely, Hathaway said the project could include rehabilitation and upgrades to the screening, grit removal, solids thickening, dewatering, aeration and chemical feeds systems.

“It’s not being built from scratch, but it’s basically an overview of everything,” he said.

The upgrades are designed to reduce the amount of ammonia and phosphorus entering the Chubb River, according to a news release from the state. The grant will be administered by the state Department of Environmental Conservation through the state’s Water Quality Improvement Project (WQIP) program.

The sewer plant project is still in its infancy — earning the grant was one of the first steps in bringing the project to fruition. So far, the village has hired engineers to draw up a report of what they think needs to be upgraded at the plant — upgrades estimated to cost $11 million at the most — so the village could apply for grants to do the work. Now that almost half of the bill is covered by state funding, the village hopes to bring engineers back to do an official report of exactly what needs to be upgraded.

Hathaway said the village doesn’t have to complete the upgrades anytime soon. The village could have easily spread the upgrades over the course of 10 years, he said, but officials wanted to try their hand at getting a large grant to see if they could get the work done in one fell swoop. Now, village Treasurer Mindy Goddeau said the village can apply for more grants that can be used in conjunction with the WQIP grant and look at options for short-term financing if needed.

“We’re still in the planning/setup stage for this project,” Goddeau said. “This grant was a huge chunk of it.”

Once the wastewater plant upgrades are completed, Hathaway said the plant shouldn’t need to be upgraded for another 20 years or so.

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox