(Credit: Courtesy, Town of Queensbury, 2022)
The Town of Queensbury will replace an old water main at Glenwood Avenue in an effort to improve water quality, the town board said Monday evening, Dec. 19.
The project will improve water transmission facilities by replacing about 2,500 feet of 8-inch, unlined cast iron water main on Glenwood Avenue between Quaker and Bay Roads.
About 900 feet of failing 6-inch ductile iron pipe will also be replaced on Haviland Avenue between Richardson Street and Edgewater Place, according to the project’s proposal.
“We asked the town board about a year ago to consider water infrastructure in Queensbury,” said Town of Queensbury Water Superintendent Chris Harrington.
In 2017, there was a water main break on Glenwood Ave that forced the town to close the road and shut down the town courthouse, said Harrington.
“It caused mayhem,” he said. “When you look at water main repair, you always wonder, what’s the impact? How’s it going to impact businesses and water transmission? It’s important.”
According to Harrington, the water main on Glenwood was installed in 1949 and has undergone tuberculation. Tuberculation is when bacteria in a pipeline’s water reacts to the iron found in the pipe’s interior. The reaction causes a buildup inside the pipeline that thickens to disrupt flow.
The combination of the water main’s location on a main road, its installation as long ago as 1949, and a difficulty in keeping the water clean is what led Harrington and his team to request a replacement. The pipe on Haviland Ave was installed in the 1980’s and must be replaced because it is laid in ground that is not conducive to the pipe material. The new pipe will have protective coating to ensure its stability.
Most of the dirty water complaints in Queensbury have been from Glenwood, added Harrington.
The engineers estimated the cost of the pipe replacement on both these projects to be around $2.4 million. However, Harrington believes that to be high.
The water main replacement will not impact the town budget and will be funded by the American Rescue Plan, said Queensbury Supervisor John Strough.
We hope to hire two contractors to spread the wealth, said Harrington. One contract for directional, the other for digging.
The town board approved the water main replacement unanimously. They also passed a resolution that authorized the town to advertise for contract bids.
The hope is to begin work on the replacement in the spring, Harrington concluded.
Other Town Board Resolutions of Note
Queensbury will take part in a Road Salt Reduction Program with Lake George. The town will match $10,000 in an effort to pivot from salt to brine in order to mitigate icy winter roads. The town board believes this will be beneficial to the Lake George Watershed Basin.
Queensbury will abolish the full-time position of Parts Shops Foreman and establish the new position of Fleet Manager, who will take over management and inventory duties of the town’s highway department vehicles.
Queensbury will increase the 2023 hourly wage of part-time employees by 5%.