LEWISTON — Town officials are having work done this week on a sewer line that’s leaking sewage underneath Route 104 within the Niagara Power Project.
The line running underneath the road, installed when the power plant was built in the 1960s, has been leaking raw wastewater, only recently becoming a concern for the town sewer department.
Water Pollution Control Center Administrator Jeff Ritter brought it up at a town board special meeting this past Thursday, which was called to pay town bills.
There was concern about some electrical distribution lines in the plant being affected, with water dripping down the walls. The pipes run underneath the road decking, suspended in cavernous rooms 50 feet from the ground.
“We decided to move on it as if it’s an emergency,” Ritter said. He added it was not a front-burner issue at first with the town, but had become more prevalent over time.
The sewer line itself does not serve the NYPA, running northward from a pumping station by Hyde Park Boulevard and Niagara University to the town wastewater treatment plant.
Due to the industrial nature of these repairs, the Clifton Park-based Trenchless Today was hired to do the work. It will cost the town around $130,000, with Ritter asking for half that money upfront as a deposit at the town board meeting on Monday.
Work is planned to go from Tuesday through Friday, Ritter said residents should not expect any disruptions to sewer service. Drivers along Route 104 during that time should expect traffic to be on one side of the road.