Water-main cleaning may cost Roosevelt $1.3 M
Borough has unusually high levels of iron
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

ROOSEVELT - The borough's water woes continue.

At the Feb. 26 Borough Council meeting, utilities Chairman Robert Silverstein said that iron levels in the town's water mains are higher than desired.

Silverstein reported that Carmella Roberts, the borough engineer, said municipalities should have maintenance done on their mains every couple of decades, but Roosevelt has not done such work in its 70-year history.

"It's not cheap," Silverstein said, citing a figure of $1.3 million that Roberts said it would cost to clean all the mains in town.

Silverstein said that the 8-inch mains coming out of the water plant are the largest and most impacted.

An 8-inch main may only have 3 inches of water flowing through it due to the iron deposits, which develop through a process called tuberculation, he said. When water goes through the pipes, according to Silverstein, it takes the iron with it.

Silverstein said that the 8-inch mains make up 50 percent of the town's mains and that cleaning them could cost $200,000 per year over a three-year period. He described the maintenance process as digging up the mains, reaming them out and encasing them in concrete before covering them back up.

While iron is considered a secondary contaminant, Silverstein said it is a quality-of-life issue. Primary contaminants considered dangerous for public health include elevated lead, copper and arsenic levels, he said.

With iron, Silverstein said, "there's not as great a health risk and a greater tolerance for human consumption."

There is an unusually high level of iron in the town, he said.

The council also discussed problems with the borough's water tower. In January, Roberts reported that the tower, which supplies water to the entire town, was inspected and found to be in poor condition. She said the borough should repair or replace the tower immediately, because its parts are no longer functioning as designed.

At that time, Roberts said that if the borough chooses to repair rather than replace the tower, there would be no way of knowing how poor the condition of the tower is until the borough removes the water from its tank.

"My reservations are [that] we will find more wrong with the tank," she said at that time.

Roberts wrote a three-page report to the council recommending replacement rather than repair of the tower.

At the council's recent meeting, Silverstein said applying for an Infrastructure Trust Fund (ITF) loan for work on the water tower is a lengthy process. However, he said that Roberts told him there is a strong possibility that the town could also get its current $2.2 million sewer plant loan refinanced by the ITF.

Borough Administrator William Schmeling said that half of an ITF loan is at market rate while the other half is at zero percent, so the borough's rate would be about 2 percent.

Schmeling agreed with Silverstein, saying there is a great deal of paperwork involved and that sooner or later, the council must decide about the scope of the work on the tower and related items.

Finance Committee Chairwoman Peggy Malkin said her committee needs to meet with Roberts, Chief Financial Officer George Lange, and water/sewer operator Toby Moore to obtain more information.

The council unanimously agreed to a motion for such a meeting and for receiving more information on financing conditions.