Wappinger town officials said a newly won grant of $750,000 secured by Rep. Pat Ryan will fund updates to a water filtration system that has been too expensive to run at full capacity.

At a press conference Wednesday at the town's Hilltop treatment facility, Town Supervisor Joseph Cavaccini said the updates are meant less to improve water quality and mostly to save money.

Currently, the water system uses disposable filters to keep bacteria and chemicals out of the drinking water.

The town spends up to $300,000 a year on filter replacements.

Each disposable filter costs about $4,000.

Water system operator Mike Tremper said the new filters the town plans to buy with the grant will be permanent and cheaper to maintain, and the plant will not have to pull back on production anymore.

"This field is permitted for 800 gallons a minute. When you looked at the system in there, it was going 157 gallons a minute," Tremper said during a tour of the Hilltop facility. "We have this throttled way back because of the cost to filter it."

It is still unclear when the money will arrive.

Town officials said that whenever the money becomes available, they will be able to buy and install the newer technology immediately, and be able to increase treatment and output of clean water.