VALATIE – The Village Board has approved funding to test well at a cost of $1,500 a month for a year to make sure surface water isn’t “infiltrating” the groundwater that supplies the village with drinking water.
Representatives from Delaware Engineering PC, an Albany company that helps municipalities deal with water and sewer issues, attended the regular board meeting Tuesday, March 8, to propose the test well.
The board decided to move forward with testing the well water after a letter from county and state Departments of Health said that testing had suggested there could be infiltration from surface water into the well. Tests on the water were conducted in 1998 and 2004, and health officials expect the village to build a filtration system.
Delaware Engineering representative John Burst said testing for a year will hopefully prove no need for a filtration system, because building a filtration system would cost millions of dollars and require the village to pay for ongoing operations of the filtering plant.
“At this moment in time our water is compliant,” said Mayor Gary Strevell. He stressed that past tests had not shown any “bad stuff” in the water, but the board plans to move forward with the new tests for safety reasons.
The board also approved having Delaware Engineering move forward with digging a new well pending funding for the project. Estimates from the company ranged from $20,000 to $50,000. Mr. Burst said the project could come in at $16,000 depending whether or not they find a good place to dig.
A new well might also put off the need for a filtration system; if the new well meets all the standards, the other, older wells can be shut off.
The board did not know at the meeting whether or not they had funds for a new well in the budget.
The village is still moving forward with finding funding for at $2.3-million upgrade to the 30-year-old sewage treatment plant. Mr. Strevell said the village is only responsible for $200,000 of that project. The rest of the project will be done when funding is found.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, Mayor Strevell said that the Village Board and the Kinderhook Town Board will inspect the Martin H. Glynn Elementary School with school administrators. The district is now considering whether to close the elementary school to save money, a change that would probably see all the student who presently attend the school in the village to go instead to the main campus on Route 9. Mayor Strevell said no decisions have been made about moving village and town offices to the school building.
He said the inspection tour, which will take place March 22 is not open to the public and officials will make no decisions about a possible move during the tour. But they will discuss moving to the building at the Village Board meeting next month.
The board’s next meeting will be Tuesday, April 11 at 7:30 p.m. at the village hall.
To contact reporter Emilia Teasdale email eteasdale@columbiapaper.com.