In one of her first acts in office, Troy Mayor Carmella Mantello is declaring an emergency over deteriorating water infrastructure in the city.
On Saturday, Mantello announced that two pumps and two valves have been leaking for two years, causing severe corrosion to a 30-inch water main at the Eddy’s Lane Pump Station.
According to the Republican, supervisors in the city’s Department of Public Works fear an impending eruption of the line. Mantello says if the cast iron intake piping fails, roughly 100,000 residents across the city and eight other municipalities could be affected. The city’s water serves approximately 135,000.
Mantello says she is working proactively to protect water quality and the nonstop flow of potable water.
“It'll allow us to immediately go into action rather than having to go out to bid, wait 30 days,” Mantello said. “This can’t wait.”
Mantello expects the project, which will take two to three months to complete, will cost more than $100,000. The replacement of the valves and pumps is expected to begin next week and will take several weeks.
City engineer Russ Reeves says repairs to the waterline require more planning and coordination.
Reeves says in an effort not to drain the city’s water supply, work will be completed in 12-hour increments.
“We're dealing with three different types of steel, we have a ductile iron pipe on the outside, cast iron, which is the pipe that badly corroded and then welding to a steel pipe,” Reeves said. “So, every one of these tasks, which is about 12 tasks, has to be perfectly timed.”
Reeves says the corrosion is likely due to the pumphouse, which was built in the 1960’s, being a high-moisture environment and the use of sodium hypochlorite as a disinfectant. Reeves described the replacement.
“We got to shut the whole system down to address it and that will allow us to repack, the pumps that are leaking, repack that other valve that's leaking badly and replace this valve,” Reeves said. “While we're doing that, we're going to be preparing the engineering to support the floor system so that we can saw cut and remove the floor system. We're going to design a skeletal steel braced frame to do that. And then we're going to develop a plan to carefully remove that section of pipe that consists of a series of 45- and 22.5-degree bends. So, it’s a compound curved pipe.”
Below the pump station, which sits on a steep hill, is an affordable housing complex. Reeves says a rupture would have devastating effects on residents and cause severe flooding in several neighborhoods.
Eric Wisher, a firefighter and president of the Troy Uniformed Firefighters Local 86, says when replacement efforts begin, the fire department will become limited in resources.
“We use a lot of water, right? All our trucks pump 1500 gallons a minute. If we're using that capacity, you might have a couple of ladder trucks, a pumper,” Wisher said. “Now you're talking 4500 gallons per minute. And that's way more than the household is using. We're drawn away from that 12-hour period a lot quicker, reducing that time they have to make a repair if there's a fire during that period.”
Mantello says the repairs were ignored by the previous administration.
“I've been here five days, not even a full five days and let's just say the valves are opening, employees are talking,” Mantello said. “They're being a part of the team. And like I said, this isn't about pointing fingers, but it is our job to protect the people of Troy.”
But City Council President Sue Steele questions the need for an emergency declaration. The Democrat says the replacement of the pumps and valves was planned.
“This was very much on the radar of DPU and was scheduled to be done,” Steele said. “It's important to note that the work has to be done during the wintertime, when the water flow is low. So, it was scheduled to be done. A lot of the parts have been on order for over a year.”
Mantello responded to Steele’s claim in a Facebook post Saturday night, saying Steele is making the matter political.
Mantello also campaigned on an ambitious promise to replace all of the city’s lead lines within four years.
