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NISKAYUNA
State: Fix sewers or face penalty
Town threatened with building moratorium
BY STEVEN COOK Gazette Reporter

    The town of Niskayuna is under threat of a state-imposed residential building moratorium if its deteriorating sewer system is not fixed, according to state officials and correspondence with the town.
    The Department of Environmental Conservation regional director, Gene Kelly, said this week that it “seems unlikely” that the town could improve the system quickly enough to ward off a moratorium lasting into the spring.
    The final details of the DEC requirements won’t be known until at least the end of the month. The DEC and town offi cials are working out a final agreement on the issue.
    But in an Oct. 15 letter to town Supervisor Joe Landry, DEC regional attorney Richard Ostrov spelled out the problems and the potential consequences.
    The problem comes with increased residential development taxing an already overtaxed sewer system.
    “The only way to effect an immediate status quo for flows is for the department to impose a moratorium on any further residential development in the town until the town can make a verifi able showing of efforts to reduce” existing flow to allow for new fl ow, the letter reads.
    The letter refers to the “Niskayuna Sewer District 6 collection system and waste water treatment plant.” Niskayuna has two sewer districts, District 1 and District 6.
    Any project approved by Oct. 1 would not be affected by the moratorium, but after that they would be barred, according to the proposed order.
    Landry said this week that negotiations are continuing with the DEC, and he suggested that the deadline for an agreement was a fl uid one.
    Regarding the potential moratorium, Landry said “that is their position; we’re still working on negotiations.”
    Issues involving Niskayuna’s sewer system date back as far as 2003. That year, the DEC fi rst identified problems with the system and ordered them fi xed. The town was then ordered to reduce inflow and infiltration into the system.
    The inflow and infi ltration stems from broken pipes or incorrectly connected pipes, Kelly explained this week. That water adds to an already overburdened flow in the system.
    When the treatment plant can’t handle the flow, Kelly said, the consequences are that the fl ow bypasses the plant and sends raw sewage into the river. How often that happens was unavailable. .................>>>>..................................>>>>..........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00900&AppName=1

Working together works.

They've known this was an issue for nearly a decade - and chose to do nothing.

Everyone is laughing so hard at the City and Rott DEMS they missed this. So far the Savage puppet Supervisor/Town Bored has teed off all the seniors and 90% of the taxpayers. Hello-Alliance Party?