The project intends to replace the 25% of pipes that have not been replaced by the Water Works department. Mayor Vincent DeSantis said the additional funding will complete the water service line replacement project.
“[The Water Works department] already replaced quite a few of [the pipes], but there’s about 25% of the lead lines in the city that have not been replaced,” he said “They want to do that. It’s a very expensive process, so they’re applying for a grant.”
The final price tag for the project is estimated at around $12 million, city officials say, but the city will need to finance the work through the issuance of bonds and a $2 million loan until they can be made whole with funds from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
While the department has not yet received the funding, they have been working closely with contractors to begin planning.
“All we’ve done so far is we’ve procured an engineering service, which is going to be seeking now an associate,” said Gloversville Water Superintendent Anthony Mendetta. “Right now, we’re working through the New York State EFC’s [Environmental Facilities Corporation] portal to fill out the paperwork that’s needed in order for the grant funding to be released.”
Mendetta expects the project to be completed in phases over the next four-plus years. The project is also expected to span throughout the city.
Since 2017, the department has been replacing lead line services throughout the city working under a New York State Department of Health grant.
Overall, $30 million in Lead Service Line Replacement funds have been spent statewide. Approximately $4.2 million was distributed across the region, including $623,655 for Gloversville in 2017.
In October 2024, the city received $2.3 million from the state to offset lead pipe replacement costs, as well as $7 million from a federal infrastructure bill earlier in 2024.
The ultimate goal of the rollout is to reduce the risks of residents facing lead exposure. Thousands of old homes in New York state have been fitted with the poisonous material. Not until 1986 was it banned from new construction.
The Gloversville Water Works sampled 30 homes with lead service lines supplying houses in the city, with results being received in 2023. The department found that four out of the 30 samples had elevated lead levels. From 2017 to 2023, the department replaced 250 services through in-house labor.
Additional possible sources for contamination were interior plumbing and water fixtures, the department said.
Mendetta told the Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers in a Jan. 13 article that he is hopeful the city can replace the estimated 2,200 lead service lines at no cost to residents.
“For other communities that don’t have this funding, that’s probably a far overreach for a 10-year period, but for Gloversville, I think that’s going to probably address at least 75% of these replacements,” he said at the time.
The city has applied for a $25 million Enivornmental Protection Agency grant, with $6 million going toward the replacement of lead service lines, said Mendetta, who estimates that additional funding would be enough to fully complete all replacements in the city.
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