The Town of Ballston’s decision to sign on with the Saratoga County Water System will require an estimated investment of nearly $600,000 to even get water to the town, according to a report by the town’s engineer, CT Male.
The proposed scope of services report outlines the costs associated with the installation of a booster pump station and a meter/chlorination station behind the Stewart’s at the intersection of Eastline Road and Route 67, near the Curtis Industrial Park. The station would enable to delivery of county water to the Burnt Hills Ballston Lake Water District 2.
It is estimated a one-quarter-acre plot of land will need to be acquired for the station. Including nearly $80,000 in engineering fees, the total cost was projected to be $588,400.
Ballston currently has two water contracts on its hands. It has been buying water from Glenville since 1971, and is currently obligated to continue doing so through 2022. When the contract was extended in 2002, a clause allowing the town to withdraw from the contract with 36 months’ notice was deleted.
An agreement was made in March of 2007, however, to purchase water from the upcoming Saratoga County Water System, making Ballston the system’s largest purchaser. It was a cheaper deala startup cost of $2.05 per 1,000 gallons as opposed to Glenville’s $2.35but it does leave Ballston with two providers for 10 years past the county system’s startup date. Activation of the county system is anticipated within the coming year.
Town of Ballston Councilwoman and member of the Saratoga County Water Authority Mary Beth Hynes said that while the need for a pumping station was anticipated, the projected cost was not.
`We always knew we were going to need a pump station,` she said. `It was a lot higher than we thought it was going to beI was very surprised because I had been told the costs for hooking up were already budgeted in district 2.
`[Former Town Supervisor] Ray [Callanan] had felt that based on other pumps we had purchased in the past, we would be in the range of $100,000,` she added.
Hynes said that options for paying for the station are still being examined as the town enters the budgeting process. One possibility would be to bond the project, potentially passing the cost to users in the district over time.
According to Ballston Supervisors Patti Southworth, who took office in early 2008, an exact plan may have to wait until it is decided how the two water sources will be distributed among customers.
`At this point, we haven’t established who will be getting water from where,` she said. `We have to service some residents with Glenville water because of where they are.`
The CT Male report also states that the pumping station could serve to deliver water to the Clifton Park Water Authority if the town decides to sign on with the county water system.
CT Male representatives could not immediately be reached.
Southworth said that the water situation needs to be studied further before a decision is made on how to fund the pump station.
`It would make a lot of sense to get the contract sorted out before building the pump station,` she said. `It’s something we’re going to have to address one way or another.`
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