DANC seeking funding for Cape water project
CAPE VINCENT — The Development Authority of the North Country is seeking ways to make the village's water treatment plant expansion project more affordable to its customers.
James W. Wright, DANC's chief executive officer, said that the authority received "positive feedback" from surrounding municipalities regarding the expansion project at a workshop meeting Thursday and that DANC is exploring ways to finance the approximately $3.2 million project.
"There's a general recognition that we need additional capacity," Mr. Wright said.
Currently, the Cape Vincent water plant does not have the capacity to allow surrounding municipalities — the towns of Cape Vincent, Brownville and Lyme and the villages of Brownville, Dexter and Chaumont — to extend existing water districts or allow new development, he said.
The plan is to increase water production by adding a fourth filter and upgrading the three existing filters. The expansion of the plant is necessary to make room for the additional filter.
The improvements are expected to increase the village's water production by nearly 60 percent, from 1.4 million gallons per day to about 2.2 million gallons.
The project's cost, and the excess water produced, will be split evenly between the town of Cape Vincent and DANC, which will sell the water to the surrounding communities.
"The plant is at 90 percent capacity and, obviously, there's no room for expansion," Cape Vincent town Supervisor Thomas K. Rienbeck said. "We're behind this fourth filter project 100 percent."
Although the expansion is costly, Mr. Wright said, the communities could be saving a large sum of money by investing in the system now. The cost estimate for the expansion already has increased "significantly" over the past few months, from the initial $2.6 million to $3.2 million, and will only go up over time, he said.
Mr. Wright said the authority will seek state funding and U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development grants to reduce the burden on its customers. DANC will schedule another meeting once it has a better idea on how to finance the project, he said.
