NORWICH – It’s been six months since September’s floods devastated the area and nearly a year since the 2011 spring flooding, but the city’s wastewater treatment plant is still seeing the adverse effects of both floods that caused it to exceed water flow rate regulations set by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

According to Department of Public Works Superintendent Carl Ivarson, the March-April flooding and September floods in 2011 were both designated disasters by state and federal authorities. But while the DEC has made adjustments in the plant’s mandated flow rates to accommodate for September’s storms, similar adjustments were not made for March and April’s flooding, forcing the plant to justify exceeding its flow rate last spring to the DEC, explained Ivarson.

Heavy rains and melting snow were the cause of flooding at the wastewater treatment plant a year ago. The flooding that occurred was worse than that caused by heavy rains in September, Ivarson noted.

If the state refuses to revise the city’s water flow rates to account for both floods, Norwich faces potential financial penalties.

“Each wastewater treatment plant has its own parameters and are expected by the DEC to meet those parameters,” Ivarson said. Such parameters are adjusted according to two seasons: The wet season, which occurs during the winter and spring months; and the dry season, during the summer and fall months.