NEWBURGH – The City of
Newburgh is going to spend some $39 million over the next 15 years to
improve local water quality and better protect public health from discharges
of stormwater and untreated sewage during heavy rain events.
The agreement will reduce almost 100 million gallons of pollution into
the river every year, eliminating more than half of Newburgh’s combined
sewage overflow, said Dan Shapley, the Riverkeeper environmental organization’s
water quality program manager.
The approved agreement will see the work accomplished in phases that focuses
on improving the performance of the combined sewer system and capacity
of the sewer treatment plant. If the overflows were not discharged, the
city’s wastewater treatment plan would be flooded and unable to
treat wastewater.
Newburgh has already started with implementation of the Long-Term Control
Plan. The city has secured over $2.4 million from the Environmental Facilities
Corporation where 25 percent is a grant and 75 percent is a no-interest
loan.
The city also qualifies for a “hardship” designation that
allows it to receive the zero-interest loans and makes it eligible for
future grants.
“The City of Newburgh recognizes the economic, social and environmental
impacts from combined sewer overflows and has been working diligently
to usher in a new era of upgraded wastewater infrastructure to protect
public health and safety, facilitate economic development through wastewater
capacity, and to protect the water quality of the Quassaick Creek and
Hudson River.”
