Village of New Berlin Mayor Peter Lennon. (ES file photo)

NEW BERLIN — The Village of New Berlin has been notified by the New York State Department of Health that it has been selected as eligible for a bi-partisan infrastructure award of up to $5 million and further interest free financing of up to $7.4 million that can be applied to a proposed drinking water project.

Prior to any commitment of funds in pursuit of the project, the village board will be working with the engineering firm Barton & Loguidice, to develop a public presentation for the village's residents and property owners at 6:30 p.m. on February 7 at the Chobani Center in New Berlin.

The Village of New Berlin Mayor Peter Lennon said, "This is something we have been talking about for decades.  My first responsibility is for the health and safety of the community and I'm going to try and do it at a reasonable cost."

"The fact is, the water is safe, it's not a matter of a crisis but we're trying to stay ahead of a crisis," Lennon said.

"Some of the grants expire so I want to make sure we get all of the latest technology and having a reliable sustainable water supply makes it much more attractive for anyone looking to move into the Village of New Berlin.

“The substance we've used to treat the water has clogged the lines and this has created clogged appliances. People have been buying their own water purifiers because they could see the build up in those appliances," he said. 

Lennon added, “Some have even had to replace appliances every few years. So, it's a matter of continuing to do this or advance with a project that will bring good water, at least as far as the lines go,"

"Over the last few years we've been putting about 30% of our operational costs into just unprogrammed maintenance, doing repair and emergency fixes of broken water main or portions of the system," he said.

According to the mayor, some of the issues go back to the early 1920's and an upgrade project in the 1960's - 70's era. He said a substantial portion of the infrastructure was nearly a century old.

"We went through and did a preliminary engineering review of the entire network in 2021, which is the cornerstone of trying to get any state or federal funding for the improvements," said Lennon.

"We knew there were issues and they were beyond the local resources to be able to fix this and bring it up to speed," he added.

 Lennon explained there are four components to the water system; One is the water supply itself whether it be wells or reservoirs. He said they have two wells and a back up well for emergency purposes. The two wells are in fairly good shape and they alternate between the two of them as to not over burden the mechanical components.   

The second component is at the pump house, which is in need of a significant upgrade. This is where the treatment takes place and ensures the flow is adequate.

"I have an absolutely wonderful Department of Public Works (DPW) with four people that all have some level of water license," Lennon said. "I would put them head to head against any other small municipalities DPW as far as understanding water challenges and being able to diagnose and fix first line issues, so an advanced team could come down and quickly respond."

The third component is storage. Lennon said they have a 400,000 gallon storage tank and it's in pretty good shape, but a few modifications will be needed to bring it up to modern safety standards.

"The fourth component to the project is the most expensive and is the new lines," he said. "About 20 to 25 thousand linear feet of new lines will be needed. 

“In some cases the basic diameter of the lines might be only 4 inches and that doesn't meet diameter or flow levels required for state fire code. The lines should be either 6,8, or 10 inches- so we're behind the power curve on that,” Lennon added.

He said that's another plus how this program would help out.

Lennon explained the total cost of the project is estimated at $15.4  less the $185,000  that was previously awarded to the Village by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. He said that $185,000 was dedicated to upgrading metering devices that will be utilized once the project is underway.

Due to delays in the federal budget, selection results are still pending regarding another possible grant/loan package from the US Dept of Agriculture that could provide additional millions of dollars toward this project.   

Lennon said the US Dept of Agriculture is not prepared to make a dollar commitment yet because they don't know exactly what the budget will look like.

Design plans call for a likely start about January 2025 and shovel in the ground will be about 2026.