Village of Geneseo

$224,000 Geneseo village water tank repair seems necessary

Bill Davis of the MRB Engineering Group spoke to the Geneseo Village Board about the necessity of revamping the flow system within the water storage tank so that water does not stagnate in the tank for any more than three days.

The system, as it now exists, is likely responsible for high readings of trihalomethane, a chemical considered carcinogenic by EPA, in faucet sampling from houses in the Town of Geneseo. Davis advised that additional stagnation within the network of piping between the tank and the customers may also be contributing to the high THM counts.

The $224,000 cost estimate for the project includes design and installation of a substitute bladder or similar structure while the tank is out of service, and assumes in-kind assistance from village and town crews in reconfiguring water lines.

Trustee Bob Wilcox wanted to know why Davis wasn’t proposing the less expensive line reconfiguration as an initial phase, to see if, by itself, it would reduce THM content to acceptable levels.

Davis replied that the stagnation in the tank was the most likely cause, and the tank repair would bring about a general benefit for all system customers, since all of the water purveyed by the village — for itself, the college and the towns of York, Groveland and Geneseo — passes through the tank. More stringent requirements for THM sampling, scheduled to go into effect in November, would therefore be less prone to prompt positive samples at other places in the system.

Davis also noted that failure address the problem could result in fines by EPA, if not directly levied against the village, then against the town, where the high THM samples have been taken.

The cost of the project will be retrieved from a dedicated reserve fund to which all the customers have contributed, Mayor Hatheway noted.

With the exception of the Town of York, which still has eight years to go on its set-price water supply contract, the users will be amenable to rate increases to replenish the fund. It was noted that York now uses more than one-third of the Geneseo water production, due to recent district expansions and service rendered to dairy farms.

Water/Waste Water Superintendent Steve McTarnaghan pointed out to Davis that the modifications will create the need for a different tank level sensing device in the water system telemetry. Davis acknowledged the point, but advised that the cost would not be significant.