By Doug La Rocque
While it may not keep city, town and village leaders up at night, any of them that have municipal water delivery systems, are very concerned about the age of these pipelines and the potential for a serious water main break. This concern was perhaps heightened by the numerous incidents due to last year’s very cold winter, and the recent major break in the Lansingburgh section of Troy that also impacted two other towns. The dollar amounts associated with these repairs can be staggering.
[private]To this end, Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, who represents all of Eastern Rensselaer County, is co-sponsoring legislation that he said “creates a program for towns and cities to protect water, sewer, storm water and gas line infrastructures and save tax dollars.” The Safe Water and infrastructure Action Program (S.W.A.P.) is modeled after the state’s CHIPs program for highways and bridges. “Our water delivery systems are crumbling around us,” said McLaughlin, who feels we are very lucky to have had such a mild winter.
One town supervisor who is very pleased to hear about the legislation is Berlin’s Rob Jaeger. “I don’t feel we are on the verge of any catastrophic failure, but parts of our water district are 100 years old and breaks do happen.” Jaeger said Berlin has been “picking at it” over the years, trying to upgrade the oldest and most important parts of their systems as money allows. They were able to upgrade the line from Route 22 along Elm Street to Community Ave for only 19 thousand dollars, putting in larger pipes, primarily because a lot of the cost was covered by the County’s bridge replacement. Earlier this year, the Town Board approved the expenditure of 30 thousand dollars for replacement of the section along Elm Street running north along Route 22. The Board did not want to draw down the water district reserve any further, simply because they might need the money for an emergency repair. Jaeger said such a program could go a long way toward helping small communities like Berlin take their repair and replacement programs to the next level.
Assemblyman McLaughlin said S.W.A.P. would allow municipalities like Berlin to apply to New York State and get a yes or no answer, as well as a firm dollar figure, before any work would have to begin. “Currently we go into a triage mode whenever there is a break,” said McLaughlin. “I want us to get out ahead of the problems, to be proactive instead of reactive.”
McLaughlin, along with the bill’s chief sponsor, Assemblyman Jim Tedisco of Glenville, had hoped the legislation might be included in this year’s state budget, but it was not. They are planning to push the bill throughout the coming year, aiming at inclusion in the 2017-18 budget. McLaughlin said the legislation might well cross party lines in the Assembly, as Albany’s Phil Speck is considering introducing similar legislation on the majority side. McLaughlin said, “I don’t care who gets the credit” as long as such a program becomes reality.[/private]