As stated in last week’s edition of The Reporter, questions were raised at the recent meeting of the Village of Sidney concerning the boil water notice issued by the Village in conjunction with the New York State Department of Health, NYSDOH. Questions should have been raised. The Village Board response, as stated in The Reporter, was totally inadequate. The project in question consisted of the replacement of four water valves on piping that intersected at the intersection of Main Street, River Street, and Bridge Street. This was not an emergency repair. This was apparently a planned, designed, and contracted out project and included outside consultant and inspection services. A “dry run” of the project was conducted when four adjacent areas were excavated down to the existing water main piping and the water valves surrounding the area were used to shut down the proposed replacement area. The excavations were backfilled that night and the water system was back up and running for the next day. The following night the excavations were redone but clearly the water mains were not totally shut down. The contractor proceeded to cut off the four water mains. When it was discovered that water to the site was not controlled several things could have been done to avoid or minimize exposure of the water system to contamination even before cutting the pipe since there was a water hydrant at the intersection that could show if the water was shut down or the degree to which it was shut down. Options included: a) Waiting until the water was adequately shut down before proceeding. Usually that is where “persistence is the name of the game”; go around and around to exercise and operate the valves used to do the shut down or to expand the shut down area. b) At least control the amount of water coming to the site by pumping the water out provided you have the ability to pump out at a rate greater than the inflow rate. In this way you can prevent the water from accumulating in the excavation and avoid backup of contaminated muddy water into the mains that in itself can generate a boil water notice. c) Stop and rethink it. Instead it turned into sloppy mess with inundated piping. I think it was the next day I heard that a boil water notice was issued. It was on Facebook and on the radio. (Not everyone was notified). More importantly, the notice was specifically for two separate sections of two streets over a block away from the project area. That was a red flag. I could not conceive how that could make sense and I believe others drew the same conclusion, hence questions at the Village Board meeting. It caused me to question how that came about and knowing that the NYSDOH is the regulating agency who is involved in issuance of boil water notices, Friday afternoon I called the Oneonta office to speak to the Engineer in charge. After the weekend and additional attempts I spoke to the State engineer and requested an explanation. I did not get one and I asked that the NYSDOH investigate this and let me know the results since this is a health related issue potentially and unnecessarily exposing water customers to contaminated water without notice. I have not heard back. Did they investigate this? What did they find? Does it warrant any action to be taken by the Village or others? Was it handled properly? I believe the Village water customers deserve better and are entitled to a full explanation.
John Woodyshek
Sidney
