Your money or your water

When Johnsburg Supervisor Andrea Hogan heard sewage might be spilling onto her town’s scenic main street, her reaction wasn’t what you’d expect.

“I got so excited,” Hogan said.

Such is the upside-down world of infrastructure funding in the Adirondacks.

For years—as far back as the 1930s—local officials have wanted to install a sewer system in North Creek, the Town of Johnsburg’s main hamlet. And, for just as long, they haven’t been able to get together the money to make it happen.

That means each home and business has to build its own individual septic system. As the years have gone on, the public health standards for such systems have become increasingly hard to meet, particularly for restaurants, which have to assure the state that their septics can handle their customers’ needs. Each business is forced to maintain its own septic system. These systems may not fit on the small downtown lots, and can be too expensive for a small business to afford.

Now, some businesses in downtown North Creek are struggling to stay open, to reopen, or to expand because of the expense of individual septic systems.

A public sewer system, which would allow everyone to share in the cost of treatment, could help.

“A sewer would allow our Main Street to flourish,” Hogan said.

But to get money for a downtown sewer that the small hamlet’s residents and businesses can afford, Hogan needs outside money. To get that money, she needs to show the state or the federal government