Latest news with #TomCompo
Yahoo
28-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Watertown applying for $20 million to correct Western Outfall drainage issues
Jul. 25—WATERTOWN — The city hopes to secure up to $20 million in state funding to resolve longtime environmental issues in the Western Outfall Trunk Sewer drainage system. The City Council on Monday night authorized city staff to file grant applications for two state programs that would provide as much as $10 million each to correct large amounts of water that flow into the Western Outfall Trunk System — or WOTS — during heavy rains. Two years ago, the city received a consent order from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to stop issuing sewer permits until it corrected environmental violations. For years, the city has been blamed for heavy infiltration of untreated wastewater discharged into Beaver Meadows, a large wetlands west of the city. The consent order requires the city to take corrective action to mitigate the identified issues. Working with the engineering firm of LaBella Associates, the city has put together a preliminary engineering report that identifies ways to reduce what is called "inflow and infiltration" and "structural vulnerabilities" in the WOTS drainage system, according to a memo to City Council. If the grants are obtained, the city plans a complete rehabilitation of a series of sub-basins in the WOTS. Plans would then call for installing lining into mainline piping and manholes, as well as grouting of all lateral to main connection points, according to the memo. "It's a major project," said City Engineer Tom Compo, adding that it would take 18 months to design the project and another 18 months for construction if the grants are obtained. City staff believe that all the extensive repairs would correct the issues with the DEC consent order. Under the Consolidated Funding Application program, Empire State Development is accepting grant applications through a new $100 million Pro-Housing Supply Fund. As a certified Pro-Housing Community, the city is eligible to apply for up to $10 million in funding to assist with financing essential infrastructure projects, such as sewer, electrical and water system upgrades, that are needed to facilitate new housing developments. Under the consent order, the city cannot approve any new housing developments until the drainage is resolved. The program requires a 50% match. Applications are due July 31. The city also plans to apply for another grant that provides up to $10 million available from the DEC through its Water Quality Improvement Program. The DEC has made available up to $75 million. That program requires a 25% match and applications are also due July 31. "They're very competitive," Compo said about other communities applying for the two grants. After discovering that the city purposely discharged the untreated waste, the DEC issued a moratorium in the spring of 2023 that prohibited the city from approving sewer permits to developers until it put together the plan to correct the violation. Since then, the city has made some repairs to reduce the inflow and infiltration issues in the basin, so the DEC has lifted some of the sewer permit restrictions. "We've done a lot of work and we need to do a lot of work," Compo said. WOTS consists of 10 sub-basins that are "defined by road grades and elevations" that feed into the piping, Compo said. He described it as large tree trunk with branches coming out on one side and branches coming out of the other side. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Watertown considering spray-on lining to fix leaking reservoir
Apr. 14—WATERTOWN — The city has found a potentially less expensive way to fix its leaking 5-million-gallon reservoir in Thompson Park — installing spray-on lining rather than replacing the tank. During a Monday night work session, City Council members learned that City Engineer Tom Compo and Water Superintendent Aaron Harvill have talked with a company that could use a polyurea lining to stop the leak on the larger of two tanks in the park. "It would be at a fraction of its cost," Compo said. The city is otherwise faced with replacing the reservoir at a projected cost of $4.3 million, instead of possibly around $1.75 million to $2.25 million for the lining. For years, the reservoir lost 400,000 gallons of water a day. City officials thought it was fixed when the reservoir underwent major repairs last spring, but city officials found out in December that the larger of the two reservoirs was leaking once again. Compo and Harvill met with the company after it had heard the city was having additional issues with the 153-year-old tank leaking, Compo said. "So we're pretty intrigued," he said. The city would drain the tank, allowing the company to inspect it and see if the lining would work. The company has used the polyurea material on fixing leaking manhole covers and in some other manners for the city. The large reservoir would be the largest project using the material. Council members took no action Monday. City staff will continue to look at the city's options, Compo said. Staff hopes to come up with a recommendation in about a month, City Manager Eric F. Wagenaar said. Councilman Robert O. Kimball wasn't thrilled with the idea of installing the new type of lining, equating the situation to "buying a new car rather than putting a transmission in my 12-year-old car." But Councilmen Benjamin P. Shoen and Cliff G. Olney III said they were happy to hear about another option besides replacing the reservoir. "It's definitely nice to have an option," Shoen said. "Why not?" The state Department of Health is strongly urging the city to finally fix the problem. If the city proceeds with replacing the reservoir, the new tank would be designed this year, demolition would be completed next spring and construction of the new one would start next June and take about nine months to complete. The smaller 3-million-gallon reservoir at the park is not likely leaking, but it was built at roughly the same time as the larger one, Compo said, adding that he cannot guarantee that it won't start to have issues. Last spring, North Country Contractors, Calcium, made major repairs to stop the leak from a pipe going out of the reservoir, costing the city $356,192. That large leak occurred in a pipe that leads to the "East" reservoir. The city pinpointed the leak in a 50-foot section between a valve box and the water tank's wall. The pipe was encased in 30 feet of concrete. In August 2021, City Council members earmarked $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding to find the leak. Officials have known about the leak for decades. The treated, leaking water was typically seen near the Franklin Street entrance to Thompson Park — close to a paved trail — and flowing out of the park and into a drainage ditch.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Watertown to replace piping that caused water main crisis in 2023
Mar. 16—WATERTOWN — City officials are starting to plan for a major project to replace a water line that burst in October 2023, causing a massive water main break that crippled the city's water supply for days. The 16-inch pipe that burst caused the city to nearly run out of water and issue a boil-water advisory and water emergency that lasted four days. The city will design the water main project this year and then install a new 6,900-foot water line down to Factory Street in 2026. The project includes replacing the section of piping that burst in front of the Water Treatment and Distribution Complex overnight on Oct. 19, 2023. The project is under the city's capital project program in the proposed $58.4 million budget for 2024-25. It's projected to cost between $3 million and $4 million, City Engineer Tom Compo said. "It's a giant project," Compo said. It's also a complex project because it involves installing valves, crossing 11 side streets and assembling fire hydrants along the way. Plans now call for a 16-inch water main, but an engineer will determine whether "it can be downsized" to smaller piping, Compo said. Advantage Watertown — a group of business and community leaders that meet monthly to talk about city issues — first brought up the project during Thursday morning's meeting. The city will send out Request for Proposals to seek engineering firms to design the project, said Michael A. Lumbis, the city's planning and community develop director. He's involved in the project because a program he oversees, the Community Block Development Grant program, will provide design funding. "Surely, it's a big project," Advantage Watertown chairman Jason White said. "It's important to see done, even though it's not a flashy project." The break — a long slit that was 14 feet long — caused the city's two reservoirs in Thompson Park to nearly empty, leaving much of the city with little or no water. The Huntington Street line, installed in 1939, has had 10 breaks in recent years and its life expectancy had elapsed. The planned new water main will not be directly connected to a line that heads to the two reservoirs in the park. The water main loops throughout the city with other lines on other streets and indirectly with the line that goes up to the reservoirs. After the water main was repaired, the City Council was criticized for missing an opportunity to replace that Huntington Street main before the water crisis. Two years earlier, council members could have made the water main a priority but instead chose 15 other water department projects funded by the city's $22 million American Rescue Plant Act funding in 2021. After-action meetings were held by city staff, county emergency management and the Development Authority of the North Country to assess how the crisis was handled. They discussed how to avoid a reoccurrence of needing to shut down the entire system during an emergency.
