Niskayuna issues $975K in bonds for water main replacements

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The Niskayuna Town Board on Tuesday voted to issue bonds for $975,000 to improve facilities in town Water District 1.

The district handles water needs for most town residents.

Funds will be used in the following way: $750,000 for the replacement of water mains; $50,000 for the purchase and installation of water meters; $100,000 for the redevelopment of wells; and $75,000 for a valve testing trailer.

Matt Yetto, the town’s superintendent of water, sewer and engineering, said a portion of the replacement work will be done on Mohawk Road.

“We’ve started the design work for the replacement of the entire length of Mohawk Road and a portion of Rosendale Road, but the initial estimates were higher than we had for bonded last year so we used some money leftover from previous bonding, plus the new bonding so we have a full project,” he said, following Tuesday’s meeting.

The main on Mohawk Road is 20-inches wide. “That’s the one when it breaks, we make the news,” Yetto said.

Water pipes on a section of Shannon Boulevard — where Yetto said crews must deal with several breaks a year — also will be replaced.

“It’s not that old but the soil conditions are just terrible,” Yetto said. “We’ll replace 1,000 feet of that.”

Yetto is also looking at replacement work in the Owasco Court area and along the entrance road to Iroquois Middle School.

Water main replacement is a continuing project.

“We’ve been trying to do at least $500,000 of water main replacement every year because for decades they didn’t spend the money on the water mains,” Yetto said. “A typical water main lasts 100 years, we have over 100 miles of pipe. If you want to keep up with it, you have to do a mile a year … $500,000 doesn’t get you a mile a year, but it’s a good start.”

Work on Mohawk Road is expected to begin this summer.

“The other projects will follow, possibly in the fall, depending on the schedule,” Yetto said. “I don’t want to have too many projects going at once.”

Yetto is also glad to have funds for the valve testing trailer.

“The City of Schenectady has one and they swear by it,” Yetto said.” We had them come up and they demonstrated it and it’s a great way to be pro-active. You use that machine to exercise your valves, and it does it hydraulically so it senses the resistance.”

“This is a very important piece of equipment for us in the town,” added Councilwoman Denise Murphy McGraw, who chairs the Public Works Committee. “It helps us test the valves in our water mains to ensure proper flow and alleviate water main breaks.”

Contact staff writer Jeff Wilkin at 518-395-3124 or at [email protected]