Ray Jurkowski, of CPL Engineering, addressed the Lloyd Town Board on a water main replacement project he is proposing for the hamlet area.

Jurkowski said this issue was brought to the attention of the town’s water department last November because of low fire flows of hydrants at the intersections of Grove Street and Leonta Court and Grove and Meadow Streets up behind the Town Hall. He said since then his company has conducted a series of additional flow tests in the area, widening out to include Church Street and Commercial Avenue, to ascertain the extent of the problem.

“The information that was brought to the attention of the water district back in November contradicted what the Water Department had as far as its available fire flow rate. That obviously brought some concern to board members and so therefore we looked into it,” he said.

Jurkowski said before testing was conducted the water department made sure there were no closed valves, with the results confirming that fire flow rates in this area were running below optimum levels.

Jurkowski noted that the water system in this part of town is nearly a century old and over the years some water mains have been replaced but they are mostly 4 inch lines. Some lines are not even connected, which is also contributing to low flow rates.

Jurkowski said a 10 inch diameter water main runs along nearby Vineyard Avenue and at Church Street a 4 inch splits off and reaches up to Grove Street, which increases to a 6 inch line as it heads out to Main Street.

“That water main has been problematic for the water district in the past. You may recall a repair was done last year and the water department had a hard time trying to close down Church Street because the valves were in such poor condition they weren’t able to shut off the water completely,” he said.

Jurkowski said a recommendation was made to the Water and Sewer Committee to put in place a new 8 inch water line along the entirety of Church Street to connect Vineyard Avenue to Main Street. In addition, a new water line would be installed from the intersection of Church and Grove streets and connect to the exiting water line at Grove Street and Leonta Court.

“By doing so we replace the old aging line on Church Street that also has low fire flow currently and it creates a secondary lead up to Grove Street,” he said. “Based on water modeling that we’ve done [it] will give ample water flow in that entire area, well over 1,000 gallons a minute.”

Jurkowski said the water department has found older lines on a single roadway that were not taken out of service and are still active.

“So when they’re attacking leaks they’re doubling up on the number of valves they have to close and they’re chasing these things down trying to isolate them, which is a very difficult thing to do when it’s happening at night, when it’s an emergency and the water has to be shut down,” he said. “This (project) will rectify it in this area.” He pointed out that the old water main on Church Street would be cut and capped and abandoned in place and new service would be provided to all of the buildings along Church Street and to the under-performing hydrants as part of this project.

Jurkowski said the entire length of the improvements is approximately 835 feet, with 780 feet of 8 inch lines, 35 feet of 6 inch lines and 20 feet of 10 inch lines. The estimated cost of the project is $337,000, broken out to $249,225 in base construction costs, $24,923 for 10% contingencies and $62,306 as 25% soft costs for engineering, legal and project inspections.

Jurkowski touched upon funding, pointing out that in the past two years the town created a line item in the annual budget that has not been utilized, resulting in a total of $200,500 that is specifically earmarked to offset the costs of capital improvement projects. He said in this case there is a shortfall of $133,500 that could be appropriated from the town’s un-expended fund balance associated with the town’s water district and does not come out of the general budget. He said if the town goes this route, this project would not “drain it down to nothing” but would leave a comfortable amount in un-expended funds. Councilman Joe Mazzetti is in favor of the project but would like to know the exact figure of what will remain before casting his vote to approve it. He would like to see enough of a balance remaining should the town face an emergency situation in the future. Jurkowski said there is also another line item in the budget that is not being touched for this project called the future capital bond that could be used for future projects.

When asked about simply bonding the project rather than paying for it outright, Jurkowski cited the cost.

“If we went and bonded the entire amount there would be closing costs on the bond itself, which generally runs about $25,000, and then you’re obviously dealing with the interest on top of that as well,” he said.

Jurkowski said if the Town Board approves this project this month his company could do the design and survey work in March and send it to the Ulster County Department of Health for their approval, which could take them two months to complete. Once they give their approval Jurkowski is hoping to solicit Requests for Proposals from contractors and start construction in the summer and finish by the fall, still leaving time for the Highway Department to do any necessary paving in this area of town.

Jurkowski concluded by saying, “We will do whatever we can to move it forward and we’d love to be able to do it during the summer. It’s going to be a tricky construction process along Church Street because it’s very congested and there are utilities scattered throughout the entire area. It’s going to be a challenging project and disruptions as far as the traffic flow. It will get worse before it gets better but it has to be done.”