Dunkirk Offers Tour Of Improved Water System | News, Sports, Jobs

Kyle Schuster, chief operator of Dunkirk Waterworks, points out the pumps that bring the water from Lake Erie into the plant. Photo by MJ Stafford

Dunkirk’s water system is complicated, technologically sophisticated, well monitored and capable of handling a greater capacity than today. That was the conclusion of a recent tour led by the City’s Department of Public Works Director, Randy Woodbury.

The system supplies the city and North County Water District – and Dunkirk officials believe it can supply Fredonia too. Woodbury offered a view of the Lake Shore Drive sewage treatment plant and pumping station, along with the Willowbrook Avenue tank and Main Street Extension pumpers.

The tour began at the Lake Shore Drive Wastewater Treatment Plant known as the Waterworks. The water treatment process begins with the water from Lake Erie being gravity fed to pumps that direct it to a chemical plant.

“We bring the lake in here” said Woodbury, standing by the pumps.

Before entering the chemical treatment plant, the water is passed through carbon filter beds, which are regularly cleaned and completely replaced every few years.

According to Woodbury, the big blue tank next to Memorial Park contains treated water that is used solely to wash the filters.

Kyle Schuster, chief of the sewage treatment plant, said it was the filters “The best defense against any new contaminants coming out.” However, as he stressed, drinking water “must be filtered but also disinfected.”

This includes chlorination, which kills bacteria — and zebra mussel larvae, as Woodbury noted. This is important because when they hatch, they can easily clog the whole system. In fact he said “We shoot some chlorine out there in the spring” into the water inlet pipe of the lake to kill any larvae there.

A brick wall at the back of the facility holds two 500,000-gallon tanks of water ready for distribution after chemical treatment.

Computers monitor the water with a dizzying array of measurements. Monitors with their readings are scattered not only in the waterworks, but also at other water infrastructure locations.

There are also human observers. Laboratory Superintendent Emily Dillenburg is an important part of the process, ensuring daily compliance with state and federal water standards. It tests things like chlorine and pH levels, turbidity and alkalinity.

“Automation helps, but automation does not control the system” said Woodbury. He said there is always someone on site at the plant. He noted that some aquatic plants — like Fredonia’s — don’t have that, but turn to them instead “occasional automation.” Many other plants also don’t have full-time on-site lab technicians like Dillenburg does, he added.

The entire Dunkirk system can produce 10 million gallons of water per day – it almost always needs to produce only a fraction of that, perhaps 3 million gallons on a typical day. Water is diverted not only to the city, but also to the surrounding communities, which are members of the North County Water District.

Once ready for distribution, the finished water is piped from the waterworks to the city’s main pumping station via Lake Shore Drive.

It’s basically one big room that contains four 250hp pumps. Schuster said they usually only need to use one pump at a time.

There is an on-site backup generator that can power both the pumps and the waterworks across the street in the event of a power outage.

Water may be pumped directly to customers or piped into the 2 million gallon storage tank on Willowbrook Avenue.

Woodbury said the purpose of such a tank is to get a large volume of water quickly when needed, with minimal loss.

Another piece is the Main Street Extension Pumps. Woodbury said these were built in the 1960s to support water pressure at D&F Plaza.

Through these, water can be pumped to Fredonia using a booster station nearby on Vineyard Drive. However, Woodbury said this would not be enough to meet Fredonia’s needs as it would cause too many problems at Dunkirk with capacity and pressure.

Woodbury and Mayor Wilfred Rosas want a new line, larger than the Main Street Extension, to connect the Willowbrook Avenue holding tank to SUNY Fredonia.

At the end of the tour, Woodbury actually drove on the SUNY Fredonia ring road and pointed out the prominent Wiilowbrook Avenue tank. Virtually the only physical barrier in a line’s path from there is the thruway. Woodbury downplayed this, saying recent advances in directional drilling should make it relatively easy to dig under the road.

During the entire tour, the DPW director spoke to his employees and called them “water scientist” in one place. He also said shoemaker “takes great pride in the quality of its water.”

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