Cooperstown unveils
Waste Water Treatment Plant
upgrades Thursday
By GREG KLEIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
The village of Cooperstown held an open house Thursday, Oct. 7, for its almost $9 million Waste Water Treatment Plant upgrades.
The plant, just outside the village in the town of Otsego, had been 20 years past its expiration date 10 years ago when then Mayor Jeff Katz and the Board of Trustees started searching for funds for an upgrade.
Because of tougher standards for water released into the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed starting in 2025, the upgrades were urgent legally as well as environmentally.
Environmental Facilities Corporation provided $8.7 million for the upgrade.
EFC COO and Senior Vice President Molly Larkin sent a prepared statement Cooperstown Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh read to the 30 people in attendance Thursday afternoon.
“The upgrades to the original plant, which was built more than 50 years ago will allow the village to meet the nitrogen and phosphorus effluent limits for the Chesapeake Bay standards scheduled to take effect in 2025,” she said.
Tillapaugh credited Katz with beginning the process of getting the upgrades funded and thanks Delaware Engineering officials, who were in attendance, for engineering the project and helping to secure the funding.
“This is a happy occasion,” Katz said. “I think this is amazing.”
