Sewer work may be funded

The Village of Williamsville has recently called for sealed bids for the construction of new sanitary line or lines, commonly referred to as a syphon, between the east and west banks of Ellicott Creek in alignment with the Town of Amherst sewer on Reist Street.

The intent of this project is to replace the existing 70 year old syphon, which has been identified as discharging sewage during times of heavy precipitation when the storm sewer system is over capacity, allowing for run off into the sanitary sewage system. Incidentally, this is the primary reason lakeshore beaches have been closed following periods of heavy rainfall. The sewage treatment plants, unable to treat the overwhelming inflow of sanitary and storm flow, allow for the waste to be discharged without full treatment.

Senator Charles Schumer has introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate to provide assistance to communities in need of conforming with the pure waters act, which has an extremely strong possibility of becoming law.

In the early 1980s the village received 80 percent federal funding to rehabilitate the entire sewage system, with an additional 10 percent funding being provided by the state of New York.

With the strong possibility of this type of funding again becoming available, and without disputing the need for an improved syphon system, I believe it would be prudent to reject all bids, projected to total more than $1 million, in anticipation of federal assistance.

Larry Brenton former Village of Williamsville mayor