By Doug La Rocque
Berlin Supervisor Rob Jaeger told the workshop meeting of the Town Board last Thursday, July 26, that both New York State and Rensselaer County Departments of Health (DOH) had paid the town a visit that day, turning up the heat on Water District 2 officials to act quickly to disconnect the reservoir from the water supply. Specifically, they warned that water building up in two sheds, one housing the check valve that has been in question, and other a different set of valves, could be a source of contamination that could flow back into the distribution system. If not dried up immediately, a boil water order could be issued. The Town highway department went to work the next morning, and the two sheds are now dry. Next up, as previously reported, is the construction of a water tower for storage of water from the District’s wells.
Board members earlier this year contracted with Cedarwood Engineering to not only construct that tower, but to also help the Town obtain a grant from New York State to help pay for it. The cost of the tower, including the installation of water meters on the District’s 184 units, is estimated to be 2.5 million dollars. The State will pay for 60 percent of that, and offer the Town a no interest or three percent interest rate loan for the remainder, repayable over a 20-year period. This grant application, however, must be in the state’s hands by September 7. Cedarwood’s Tom Suozzo said his firm can have the paperwork ready by that time. The Town is also trying to complete an income survey of users in the water district in the next two weeks. The survey will be used by the State to determine the interest rate on the loan portion. Lower incomes documented by the survey will qualify for lower interest rates, or possibly zero interest. Suozzo emphasized the importance of the survey, noting it must have an 84 percent participation rate to be accepted. He also noted the survey is completely anonymous. He had a copy of the survey for District and Town officials, who said it would be going out within days.
If it can all come together, construction can then be scheduled on the installation of a 300,000-gallon water tower, with lines running to and from the District’s pump station. After that, the reservoir would no longer be needed for water storage, and the distribution lines that contain the check valve that DOH is concerned could fail, can be removed.
DOH did offer the district and the Town two other options beside the tower. One was to do nothing, which would result in an immediate boil water order, or to construct a water line that would tie into the Petersburgh Water District. This would cost an estimated 5 million dollars, and as Ben Krahforst, who serves as both Petersburgh and Berlin Water Commissioners points out, is also unfeasible, because Petersburgh does not have a large enough water supply to share.