PITTSFIELD — Councilors last week authorized the town manager and Economic Director Clyde Dyar to begin seeking funding sources for a drainage program that will affect most of central Pittsfield.

“This project could cost $810,000,” Town Manager D. Dwight Dogherty said.

Dyar said the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Community Development Block Grants and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are all potential funding sources.

The drainage problem is caused by a system connected to Farnham Brook that is inadequate to handle runoff from central Pittsfield.

Farnham Brook winds its way through town from north to south, gathering water as neighborhoods drain into it. The problem is acute in the spring — with flooded basements, yards turned into ponds — but the brook all but disappears during the rest of the year.

After filling with water from nearly three-quarters of the town, the brook has been causing serious problems in the West Street area because of a series of bottlenecks where it is funneled into progressively smaller pipes before discharging south of town.

A $12,000 study was recently completed by David Dyer for Professional Survey and Engineering of Belfast. It suggested four options and their estimated costs.

They are:

Divert the brook from South Street into Mill Pond, for $49,000. Additional costs would be incurred in removing 2 feet from the top of Pioneer Dam to allow installation of flashboards so that seasonal lowering could occur. This option is not recommended by Dyer.

Divert the brook from the railroad tracks to the Sebasticook River behind the GSBS Technology Center on Hunnewell Avenue, for $285,000.

Alter the pipes from West Street to Raymond Avenue to allow for larger amounts of water to be moved quickly, for $217,000.

Divert the brook along the railroad tracks to the Industrial Park, for $200,000. This option is not recommended by Dyer.

It appears that a combination of two of the plans may be the solution.

Several West Street residents have consistently attended Pittsfield council meetings to try to ensure a solution to their drainage woes. This week they were joined by other residents who live along the brook’s path who said that part of the drainage problem is that drains are placed above the brook’s level in some cases.