Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media John Mokszycki, superintendent of the Water and Wastewater Department for the town of Greenport, testified last week in Washington D.C. at a Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on rural infrastructure needs. Mokszycki responded to questions posed by U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado about the challenges faced by small rural communities like Greenport when it comes to maintaining and upgrading their water infrastructure. Mokszycki is an expert on rural water infrastructure and has led numerous projects in Greenport, including the latest project that will replace 14,000 feet of pipe in the town. He said small communities face the same kinds of infrastructure problems that larger municipalities do, but have trouble financing the solutions. Mokszycki told the committee that federal funding has gone a long way to curb some of the infrastructure expenses for residents in Greenport. He cited as an example a project upgrading Greenport’s wasterwater treatment facility — a project that came with a $9.5 million price tag, and by the time the 30-year loan was paid off, it would have cost the town $17 million. Federal funds helped defray the costs. “We were fortunate — we will end up spending about $4 million for that same plant, which made it something our community was able to afford,” Mokszycki said. “We could never have afforded it without that help. We were very fortunate to get a zero interest loan and we were extremely fortunate to get half-loan forgiveness.” Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.