OLEAN, N.Y. — Months after a significant rainstorm caused more than 186,000 gallons of untreated sewage to be discharged into the Alleghany River, the city of Olean is looking to find solutions.
"We'll be sending out an RFP to hire an engineering firm to look at the whole situation and tell us what we need to do better," said Olean Mayor William Aiello.
After the discharge in April, the Seneca Nation of Indians has been critical of the city's slow response to the discharges.
During a common council meeting on Tuesday, Allegany Territory Councilor Odie Porter spoke out about the impact the discharges are having on the Seneca Nation territory.
"It's disgusting wastewater, into the river, it contaminates it," Porter said. "They're trespassing on our territory, and it's a matter of for the benefit of their own citizens, and then it contaminates it for our citizens."
The city of Olean has been upgrading its sewer system for many years, after a 2001 consent order issued by the NYSDEC ruled the municipality had to make upgrades.
"We have to do at least $250,000 a year in upgrades to our system," Mayor Aiello said.
Aiello says that the RFP will be issued this week and will take several months for the study to be completed.
The hope is that work on a solution can begin sometime in the fall, but additional resources will be needed from the state or federal government.
"Senator Borrello and our Assemblyman, Joseph Giglio are on board," Aiello said. "If you look at the state budget this year, there's a lot more money in the budget for infrastructure work in there."
A spokesperson for Seneca Nation President Rickey Armstrong sent the following statement:
"The Seneca Nation is pleased to hear that the city is finally taking preliminary action to, hopefully, address the ongoing issues at its Wastewater Treatment Plant in a substantive way. As we have said repeatedly, the health and safety of the river and those who live along and enjoy its waters need to be a primary concern. Allowing untreated sewage to be discharged into the river on an ongoing basis cannot be an option. This dangerous and unhealthy situation has persisted for too long. We hope the search process and, more important, the implementation and action process move expediently. The Nation restates our commitment to offer the city the assistance of our grant writers in finding, applying for, and securing federal and state resources to help remedy the city's discharge situation. We will continue to monitor and defend the health of Ohio'."