WINDHAM GETS CWC TO DO TREATMENT STUDY

WINDHAM - If it is hard to imagine anything more scintillating than talking about the microorganisms that eat sewage, then a recent town council meeting in Windham was the place to be.

Government leaders were grooving up slowly as they approved the execution of a contract with the Catskill Watershed Corporation to undertake a study at the local wastewater treatment plant.

Delaware Engineering, a familiar and faithful name in the community, is also part of the research as the town hopes to introduce a specific treatment method at the facility.

The new process would be aimed at allowing the town to accept a different sort of awful glop that comes out of home and business drain pipes.

Windham currently has a steady inflow of odorous muck that is treated as soon as, or shortly after it arrives at, the South Street plant.

The operation, however, does not include stuff that has been oozing on the insides of septic tanks for weeks, months and years.

While the same basic - ahem - ingredients are involved, a distinctive slop is brewed in the tanks and must, therefore, be handled with kid gloves.

Nobody will be glowing if they get some of it on them, but it could gum up the works in terms of the delicate treatment/purification process.

Which is where the CWC is stepping in, paying $50,000 for an analysis that could possibly lead to Windham becoming a sludge cake maker’s dream.

“Right now, our plant runs 24/7,” says town supervisor Thomas Hoyt, putting on his Dr. Science cap to explain the situation.

“When the flow comes in, we have equalization tanks, treating 100 gallons a minute at a constant rate so there are no spikes.

“It’s all aerated and churned up, regulating how fast it’s released into the system. If it’s too fast, the concentrate is too strong.

“That effects how the bugs work that treat the stuff, so if we start accepting other stuff from septic tanks, it has a different chemical makeup. It first has to be tested,” Hoyt says.

The facility in Windham does not have the capability to properly stew the septic goo, an upgrade officials say would be beneficial in multiple ways. 

“Two years ago, [the Department of Environmental Protection] started to cut back on how much septic from private haulers they’d take at their treatment plants,” Hoyt explained.

“It was a shock for everybody. It started a ruckus because it was going to produce real problems for the haulers, needing to truck it further away, meaning it was more expensive and complicated.

“Some towns got together with DEP and the CWC, to figure out if there was a way to correct the problem. DEP decided to write letters to municipalities with active plants to see if they would accept the septic materials.

“We said yes. We were encouraged to submit documentation on how to proceed. CWC accepted a proposal from us to investigate,” Hoyt says.

In order to safely welcome the septic matter, a kind of Mini-Me treatment network would need to be created, chemically acclimating the higher intensity goop to the more recognizable goop.

“Delaware Engineering has successfully facilitated a system like this over in Columbia County,” says Hoyt. “It’s not in the watershed but it treats tens of thousands of gallons of wastewater.

“An underground receiving station could be constructed with discharge into underground tanks with proper aeration and odor control.

“Once that septic matter is treated and becomes sludge, it can be added to what we normally do here, at the right pace and time,” Hoyt says.

“It helps DEP make sure there is good water quality in the watershed, plus it helps our vendors and towns on the mountaintop.

“Towns like Lexington and Conesville have gray water systems that have to be pumped out every three to five years. Now they will have a local spot to deposit it which is a win-win for everyone.

“The idea is to make the bad bugs work with the good bugs. The study will hopefully be done by this fall, getting all the google gobbles figured out, then do the design and permitting over the winter,” Hoyt says.

If the study proves positive, financing for the infrastructure is expected to come from DEP, though the CWC, it’s watershed administrative arm.