Photos: Pumped up
The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia
Project engineer Milan Jackson of Lamont Engineers shows a group where an aeration tank raises oxygen levels in the water during Saturday’s open house at the Berne treatment plant for its new sewer. The water later meets treated wastewater from the local school. The water leaving the facility, assistant project engineer Jason Preisner said, will be cleaner than what is coming down the creek.
The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia
Happy day: Residents, politicians, and the people who made the roughly 20-year project a reality toured the facility with its engineers on Saturday, culminating the afternoon with the presentation of a sign christening of the road leading to the new building: 2 Testa Terrace. The politicians — from left, Congressman Paul Tonko, state Senator Cecilia Tkaczyk, and Berne Supervisor Kevin Crosier — were all smiles Saturday.
The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia
Fred Testa, for whom the road leading to the sewer plant was named, first started working on the sewer project in 1996 as environmental project manager for the Environmental Facilities Corporation that financed a large portion of the multi-million-dollar project.
The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia
Project engineer Jason Preisner, in blue, takes interested residents on a tour, starting near the settling tanks at the treatment plant. Nearly 90 homes will be served by the hamlet's new sewage system, some of which, the county found in 1984 and 1996, had compromised sewage systems affecting the quality of private wells and the Fox Creek. The treatment facility is designed to require little maintenance, but under ground is a series of steps through which wastewater from homes in the hamlet flows. Eventually, the water is pumped onto the sand filter in scheduled intervals so as to feed the bacteria that break down contaminants.
The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia
Enquiring minds: At Saturday's event, Councilwoman Karen Schimmer asks questions of assistant project engineer Jason Preisner.