Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the village of Coxsackie $17 million sewer project will move forward as planned, leading to the lifting of a 15-year-old ban on new sewer hook-ups in the village. It will also eliminate untreated wastewater from being pumped into the Hudson River and the Coxsackie Creek during heavy rains. The infiltration of the river and creek was legal when the plant was built. The sewer plant project was deemed essential and has continued during the NY On PAUSE order. “The governor and the Department of Labor deemed that any municipal construction project is essential, so they could be continued,” Mayor Mark Evans said. “We thought at any time that the subcontractors might decide not to send their folks, but they continued working, and other than jockeying for timing on different parts of the project, it [has] continued unimpeded.” Construction began in July 2019. To pay for the project, the village received a $2.5 million grant from the state and a 30-year 0 percent loan through the state's Clean Water State Revolving Fund. A portion of the cost will also be borne by the state Department of Correctional and Community Supervision, which operates two correctional facilities in Coxsackie. Those facilities account for a large portion of the sewer usage, Evans said. But the precise amount to be covered by DOCCS will not be known for several months, he said. Under the plan, parts of the existing sewer plant are being upgraded, while others are being expanded. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.