Lagoon project said 85 percent complete

Construction crews have finished 85 percent of the work on the three lagoons in Uniontown, with one projected month of work left.

One lagoon is still full and will need to be emptied, cleaned and lined. The lining on the other lagoons still needs to be installed as well. The natural vegetation for the three man-made wetlands still needs to be planted, said mayor Joyce Mayer of Uniontown.

Mayer said the rain in the past few weeks has put a damper on construction. Once cold weather hits, this too will put a delay on construction, but they hope to be finished before then.

Mayer estimated about a month remains to finish the wastewater treatment ponds. The lagoons were cited in 2003 as leaking heavily by the state department of ecology (DOE) after it obtained results of a private 1998 study.

Work already done on the lagoons included digging out the wetlands, draining the two major lagoons and scooping out the dried silt at the bottom.

Total price tag on the project is estimated at $2.3 million by the DOE office. Uniontown has received two loans from the DOE to pay for the lagoons; a $2,081,000 forgivable loan stemming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (essentially a stimulus grant), and a $216,000 regular loan with a 1.1 percent interest rate.