Committee approves $50,000 engineering planning grant to study South and Center Chautauqua Lake wastewater capacity

Chautauqua County’s Audit & Control Committee voted to authorize a $50,000 engineering planning study and the appropriation of a local match for a capacity review of the South and Center Chautauqua Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant. Tom Walsh, director of the South and Center Chautauqua Lake Sewer District, presented the request and answered committee questions.

Walsh told the committee the plant originally began operating in 1981 and is currently permitted by the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for 4.1 million gallons per day. He said the district’s recent upgrades, including a fine-air diffusion system installed to reduce ammonia, likely have increased the plant’s effective capacity by roughly 25 percent, but that an outside engineering firm must confirm current flow and nutrient-handling limits.

“This study would be the engineer’s responsibility to find that out,” Walsh said, explaining the district needs an updated preliminary engineering report to understand whether it could accept additional flows — for example from the North Chautauqua Lake Sewer District, which committee members were told is at capacity — or from planned sewer extension phases around the lake.

A representative for the Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) said EFC’s engineering planning grants are capped at $50,000 because consulting firms often price planning work competitively when they expect to bid future design and construction work. "If there were no anticipation of a future construction project," he said, "I would estimate the cost of this study to be four or five times $50,000."

Committee members pressed on cost and process: some asked whether the district had obtained bid estimates before requesting the $50,000 authorization and whether the amount was negotiable. Walsh said the $50,000 was an engineer’s estimate and that the district would issue a request for qualifications (RFQ) to solicit firm bids; the county’s share would reflect the matching requirement of the EFC grant (Walsh referenced a local match in the range noted in the application).

Walsh and other speakers also described operational detail heard by the committee: the plant currently removes roughly 98–99 percent of nutrient loading and must maintain at least 85 percent removal efficiency under DEC rules; the plant’s annual average flow is about 2 million gallons per day though permitted capacity is higher and rain events and seasonal variation affect peak loading.

Committee members noted the county’s overall spending on studies in recent years and asked staff to be prudent; proponents said the study would open options for regionalizing service or for making cost-effective use of recently completed upgrades. The motion passed. During the roll call the committee chair recorded general assent and one legislator identified as Carrie registered opposition.

Looking ahead, staff said the study’s findings would be needed before the district could pursue construction funding or plan pump-station conveyance from other districts. The study also would produce the professional-engineer-signed preliminary engineering report required by EFC to seek larger construction grants.

Sources: Tom Walsh, South and Center Chautauqua Lake Sewer District; Environmental Facilities Corporation representative; Audit & Control Committee proceedings.