In Potsdam, N.Y., work on the wastewater treatment plant is moving along with a few bumps that might offset the completion date.
According to the Watertown Daily Times, talk about upgrading the plant has been ongoing for several years. With construction underway, the $17 million project may be completed by Aug. 2019. Gregory O. Thompson, Village Administrator, said the work is around 40 to 45% done.
However, one issue may derail the schedule. According to the Watertown Daily Times, the delivery of parts for many sub-project are not always delivered at the same time. According to Thompson, the delivery of a boiler should have already happened and without it changes will need to be made.
“It only leaves us with one boiler, and we don’t like to do that because if anything happens we have no backup, so we’re exploring some alternatives there. We’re going to try and find a portable boiler we can have at the ready in case anything happens,” Thompson said to the Watertown Daily Times.
The completion date may also be set back due to the premature cold.
“What we’re up against is we’ve had some abnormally cold temperatures for this time of the year, so everything has to be chemically treated and heated and protected as it dries, so that takes much longer than normal,” Thompson said to the Watertown Daily Times.
According to the Watertown Daily Times, workers have had to deal with less-than-ideal conditions at times with the premature cold, but they have made do.
“Again, my hat’s off to our crew. I say it a lot, but I say it a lot because I mean it. We have an outstanding crew at our water and wastewater plants, and what they’ve done is they’ve made temporary housing at the water plant so they’re doing all the lab work over there,” Thompson said to the Watertown Daily Times.
The heat to the to the administration building was cut over a month ago, and workers have had to bring in portable heaters to make work bearable. Also, the lab work was moved to the water treatment plant.
Despite setbacks, the crew has completed a lot. One digester was completed as well as one of the boilers. According to the Watertown Daily Times, other sub-projects are also nearing completion. The dewatering machine will soon be running, which will allow for waste to be easier to transport from the wastewater treatment plant.
