Town of Hamden gets DeLancey Septic Maintenance funds

MARGARETVILLE, N.Y., Jan. 16, 2008 - The Town of Hamden has assumed control of the new DeLancey Septic Maintenance District in which 59 residential septic systems in that hamlet will be regularly pumped and maintained.

The project is the second to be completed under the Catskill Watershed Corporation’s (CWC) Community Wastewater Management Program (CWMP). The first was a community septic system in Bovina, completed in December 2006.

Hamden town officials on January 11, 2008 received a check for $1,589,558 from the CWC to invest and utilize for DeLancey district operations and management. The funds represent the balance of a $2.2 million block grant that had been allocated for the DeLancey project. $630,441 was spent setting up the district, pumping and inspecting all on-site septic systems, and replacing 16 of them which were determined to be substandard.

An Operation and Maintenance Manual outlining district management procedures was also prepared by Lamont Engineers, coordinators of the CWMP program for the Catskill Watershed Corp.

The Town, through the District they established, will now be responsible for scheduling regular inspections of DeLancey systems, and contracting for their repair when necessary.

The hamlet of Hamden is also slated for a CWMP project, but it will differ from Delancey in that it will consist of a community septic system enhanced with a sand filtration unit. Bids are expected to be let for that project this spring, with construction anticipated later this year.

Other CWMP projects are in the planning stages for Bloomville in Delaware County, where construction is also slated to begin this spring; Boiceville in Ulster County and Ashland in Greene County.

For more information about this and other CWC environmental protection, economic development and education programs, go to www.cwconline.org, or call 845-586-1400.