NORWICH – Under new strict new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency, the City of Norwich is taking financial burdens head-on as the federal agency mandates the city – and hundreds of other municipalities near the east coast – remove significant amounts of phosphorous and nitrogen from water that flows into the Chesapeake Bay.
The initiative comes after a 2010 executive order from President Barack Obama to restore and protect Chesapeake Bay. Large-scale efforts to reduce pollutants in the bay have been ongoing for three decades, but according to the EPA, efforts showed insufficient progress and there’s been a greater push to limit amounts of phosphorous and nitrogen flowing into the bay for the last two years.
Following treatment at the city’s wastewater treatment plant, water is dumped into the Chenango River, where it flows south into the Susquehanna River near Binghamton, which then leads down into the Chesapeake Bay just south of the Pennsylvania border.
Department of Public Works Superintendent Carl Ivarson said higher costs begin with the purchase of chemicals needed to reduce the amounts of phosphorous in the water as it undergoes a treatment process at the plant. The city must reduce the amount of phosphorous from the current 2mg/Liter to .5mg/Liter as per EPA standards. Additional chemicals could set the city back an estimated $73,000 per year, Ivarson said, but that figure is contingent on the annual flow rate. Currently, chemicals to reduce lesser amounts of phosphorous cost the city $34,000 each year.
Stricter regulations didn’t crop up overnight, Ivarson pointed out. Allowable levels of phosphorous have changed gradually, resulting in nearly $100,000 more to be spent on treatment chemicals over the last two years. In addition, he said maintenance costs are expected to rise because pumps and equipment at the plant will be running at a higher rate and for longer periods of time.
While phosphorous removal is certainly a financial challenge, the hardest-hitting mandate requires that the city also remove high levels of nitrogen from the current 25mg/Liter to 7mg/Liter – a process that could cost millions as it calls for additional construction, equipment and another treatment process at the city’s wastewater treatment plant, explained Ivarson.
City Mayor Joseph Maiurano is requesting assistance from local representatives and state officials regarding the new mandates. Costs far exceed the financial capabilities of the city as well as treatment plants all over the region, he said. “Just putting a regulation out there isn’t going to do any good if we can’t afford to fix the problem,” he added. “It’s not reasonable to regulate us to the point where we can’t operate at all.”
Money for additional chemicals to reduce phosphorous has been budgeted, the mayor went on to say. “We knew we would have to provide the chemicals for it,” he said. However, city officials are unsure how to fund the new regulations for nitrogen removal.
New directives to limit amounts of phosphorous and nitrogen will also have an impact on treatment plants in Sherburne and Greene, as well as the greek yogurt manufacturer, Chobani. All three have been deemed bay-significant wastewater treatment plants by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.