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Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 61F. Winds light and variable..
Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 61F. Winds light and variable.
SALAMANCA — A major rebuild of the city of Salamanca’s water system with a potential bill of nearly $25 million was given a tentative go-ahead by the Common Council Wednesday.
HUNT Engineers representatives reported the findings of a preliminary study for the proposed project to the council during a public hearing required for a $1.25 million Community Development Block Grant grant the city is pursuing to help pay for the project.
The estimated $24,950,560 project could include the development of new primary and reserve water sources, transmission main to existing system interconnect, fire protection and distribution system improvements.
To help fund the project, the city is also seeking a Water Infrastructure Improvement Act (WIIA) program grant for $5 million from the state Environmental Facilities Corporation. If both WIIA and CDBG grants are approved, the remaining $18.7 million would have to be paid through other funding sources, most notably through bonding that would most likely raise rates for Board of Public Utilities customers.
Members of the council expressed shock at the project’s cost but said it was a project that needed to be done and couldn’t be put off any further.
“If it’s our water supply, that affects every single person and business in the city of Salamanca,” said council member Janet Koch, D-Ward 5.
“I think we need start, as bad as it hurts,” said council member John “Jack” Hill, D-Ward 1.
Bryan White, a professional engineer with HUNT, said the firm had been working with the Board of Public Utilities for about a year on the project as problems continue to arise with the water system, especially with water loss. He said there is a 70% loss between what the system produces and what property owners are being billed for.
“The old system is well beyond its useful life,” he said. “There’s multiple main breaks, meters that don’t work, pumps that don’t work. Just a ton of maintenance headaches that are always ongoing.”
The water treatment plant is a main area of concern for a number of issues, White said, including its location at a low point of the city which means it’s constantly pumping water uphill instead of down. He also noted the documented contamination both in the ground around the plant and upstream of it and it’s only a matter of time until those contaminants are in the system.
“The health department has suggested in some of their write-ups that the city consults with an engineering firm to evaluate utilizing a new location for the water treatment plant, so we also took that into consideration,” he added.
White said there are also issues at some of the pump stations, water storage tanks, the system’s isolation valves and the hydrants, the last of which could be a public safety issue if firefighters go to open a hydrant and the valves aren’t working. He also said there are 14 wells in the city’s system — none of which can reach the daily command — and there is no generator backup.
White said the city could only make the needed repairs to the current water treatment plant, but there would still be some deficiencies and some aspects would not be up to state code. As an alternative, he said the city could abandon the present plant and build a new one at one of the pump sites near the Great Valley Creek.
Grant administrator Sandi Brundage noted that the water study performed by HUNT was paid for through a CDBG the city received in 2021, which helped the city see what exactly was wrong and what needs to be done.
White said the nearly $25 million includes all the related costs to the project beyond construction itself as well as a 30% inflation contingency if prices continue to rise next year.
If the grant applications and start of the project go smoothly, White said the timeline would have construction begin in early 2024 and the project wrapped up by fall 2025.
(Contact editor/reporter Kellen Quigley at kquigley@oleantimesherald.com.)
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