The village sewer board will ask for more time to install a system at the sewer plant to remove the chlorine they add to disinfect the effluent before it empties into the Susquehanna River or find another means of disinfection.

The village currently uses chlorine to perform the required disinfection of the effluent, but now regulations demand the concentration of chlorine must be cut from 1 to 2 parts per million down to .39 parts per million, according to sewer board chairman Dr. Theodore Peters.

The village is facing a self-imposed deadline of May 15, 2002, set when Peters proposed a project timeline to the DEC to begin the de-chlorination. So far, the DEC has held them to it.

But since the original project proposal, some things have changed, including the need to install a new chlorination tank to increase the contact time with the chlorine.

The sewer board met Monday afternoon with its engineering firm to discuss the situation and decide how to proceed.

Principal Engineer Henry Lamont of Lamont Engineers, said he had not foreseen the need for a new chlorine contact tank when the plan was first drawn up.

The village's sewer plant is not up to design standards for chlorine contact tanks and a minimum amount of contact time with the chlorine is required to insure complete disinfection, he said. "I did not realize contact time was an issue," Lamont said.

Despite the plant not being up to design standards, in four years there has only been one sample tested for E.coli that was not "clean" and that was related to tank cleaning when the sample was taken, according to Peters.

The need to build a new chlorine tank to expose effluent to chlorine long enough to disinfect it before the chlorine is then removed will add substantial cost to the project.

The sewer board included $30,000 in the 2001-02 budget to cover the original cost estimate, but that estimate has now grown to over $200,000, according to Lamont Engineers.

The sewer board is hoping that they will be able to convince the DEC to allow them to investigate other solutions to the disinfection problem at the plant.

"What worries me as a layman," said Mayor Wendell Tripp, is if we're going to spend $200,000, we should explore other areas, including ultraviolet light.

That possibility was discussed briefly during Monday's meeting. The use of ultraviolet light would have a higher initial cost, but may, over time, pay for itself through decreased operations and maintenance expenses, according to the engineers.

Even if the regulatory agency does not grant additional time, it is unlikely the village could have either the chlorination/dechlorination system or an alternative installed and on-line by the deadline.

"It's not feasible to get the project done by May 15," said Lamont.

The question of how best to address disinfection at the sewer plant and whether chlorine is the right method lead to a discussion about the plant itself.

"Overall, it is difficult to know what is the best option for the plant," Lamont said. "You should step back and look at the plant as a whole. Every time you have to deal with a small problem, it brings up the bigger picture."

The plant was built in the mid-60s and has already far outlived its 20-year life expectancy. The plant has often run at or over capacity in recent years and the village has undertaken a sewer upgrade project to repair or replace old lines in an effort to halt ground and storm water from infiltrating the system.

"You don't want to size for today's flow. You don't want to put in a chlorine tank that's too small five years from now," Lamont said.

The sewer board and the engineers decided they would approach the DEC to ask for an extension and Peters told the board members and the engineers that he would contact the DEC to set up a meeting to discuss a new compliance schedule.