By Doug La Rocque
Officials from the New York State Department of Health (DOH) were in attendance at the Thursday, January 25 Berlin Town Board Workshop meeting, to discuss the town’s reservoir and what is perceived as the danger it presents to the village Water District. Last year the DOH informed the town it had determined the water in the reservoir to be unpotable. There were many reasons for this, but the primarily reason was the Health Dept. does not feel the screen over the water body is sufficient to keep out unwanted materials or small wildlife. The town has not drawn on the reservoir for years, but state officials also feel the check valve system that prevents any contaminated water from flowing back into the water system is very old and in danger of failing. Former District 2 Water Supervisor Jim Winn has previously told the Board the age of those check valves make any attempts at replacement speculative at best. DOH Regional Environmental Health director Robert Swider Jr. told those in attendance, “You are one bad sample away from a boil water order.” It must be kept in perspective, however, there have been no bad samples taken from the water district to date and no indication that the check valve system is in imminent danger of failure.
Mr. Swider did confirm for the Board there is a state grant system in place that would pay for 60 percent of the construction of a water tower, estimated to be near or slightly over a million dollars. He also indicated New York has a companion program that would provide low interest loans to help cover the rest of the cost, spread over 15 years. There may well be some other grants the town could pursue to help defray the expense.
Time is of the essence, however, as the State usually starts handing out the grants in June. Mr. Swider said his department is ready to help the town draft the application, but that the town would be responsible for its own engineering studies. The Town Board voted to have the firm of Cederwood Engineering, who was also in attendance at the meeting, begin to develop the plans for a tower and that it would formalize the contract at its regular February meeting. Cedarwood, based out of Warrensburg, NY, has extensive experience in such matters and is currently under contract with Petersburgh as it is involved in some of that town’s water district woes.
Mr. Swider also told the Board a tower would give the town the storage capacity it required, eliminate any dangers the reservoir might pose and, perhaps, reduce the strain on the current pumping system, which needs to run continually.