TUPPER LAKE — The water quality issues here are one step closer to resolution after the village of Tupper Lake received a $2.46 million grant from the state Department of Health in early January.

“Over 80% of this project is coming from New York state water grants,” Tupper Lake Village Mayor Mary Fontana said.

The village is aiming to build a new water treatment plant to process water from Tupper Lake, switching back from the groundwater well system they adopted five years ago. For the last few years, Tupper Lake residents have complained of brown and yellow water coming from their taps — a result of iron in the ground mixing with the water — and voiced their concerns about unsafe drinking water. Though the water is safe to drink, many residents won’t.

“These water quality issues have been plaguing this community for a while now,” Fontana said.

To build the new treatment plant, the village has estimated a need for $8.4 million but is aiming for closer to $9 million. Fontana said this is a better-safe-than-sorry approach. This way, if prices increase or estimates go up when the project is underway, the village won’t have to burden the taxpayer, she said.

The latest $2.46 million grant brings the total money earmarked for the project to about $7.46 million, adding to a $4.8 million grant from the state’s Water Infrastructure Improvement Assistance fund and another $200,000 from the DOH. The village just needs about $1 million more.

“We’re consistently looking for funding for that $1 million,” Fontana said.

The village hopes to get that remainder from the state, which Fontana said is “a drop in the bucket for the state and an awfully big (budget) line item for Tupper Lake.”

While bonding the final million is an option, it is not ideal. To do so would be to lay the interest and premium on the back of the taxpayer, which the village wants to avoid at all costs, Fontana said. She added that she’s not ready to explore that option until the design and construction plans come together, which will offer a more concrete price for the project.

The new plant will be bigger than the old one, with a new system for treatment. Instead of being disinfected by a common chlorine system, water in the new plant will be treated in a multi-step process.

First, water will pass through a Trident system, which will remove up to 50% of total organic carbon — the main issue in using water from the lake. Next, it will be filtered through a granulated activated carbon filter to remove the remaining TOCs. It will then undergo Ultra Violet disinfection, before finally passing through a chlorine system.

The village is under a consent order from the Environmental Protection Agency, for which the village has been meeting its deadlines, Fontana said. Final design for the plant is due in June, but is contingent on DOH water testing. Fontana said the village is unwilling to throw the long-sought funding at anything until they know for certain the water is usable.