The financial burden of a planned large-scale upgrade of the City of Amsterdam’s water and sewer infrastructure will be significantly less, now that New York State has awarded the city a total of $3.9 million in grants and $5.2 million in low-interest loans. The grants were announced yesterday by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office, and is part of a $255 million statewide investment, funded through the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act and the Intermunicipal Water Infrastructure Grants Program. The low-interest loans and further details on the project were released by Mayor Michael Villa’s office today.
The Amsterdam Common Council approved the borrowing of the full $9.1 million cost of the project in June 2017, with the stated expectation of receiving the grants to offset the cost at a later date.
Work to the city’s water system will include renovation of the city’s two water tanks near Tecler School and on Locust Avenue, replacement of 100 distribution line valves, replacement of 50 fire hydrants, repair or replacement of pressure reducing valves, and replacement of deteriorating piping and valves at the Brookside filter plant. The total project is estimated at $5.5 million, to be offset by $3 million in grant money, the rest being financed through the state program.
Work to the city’s sewer system will include replacement of sludge pumps, piping, valves, and aeration blowers at the city’s waste water treatment plant, replacement of pumps, piping, valves, and control equipment at the city’s pump stations, installation of standby emergency generators at the pump stations, and the replacement or repair of 15,000 linear feet of sewer piping in order to reduce groundwater infiltration that contributes to the problem of sewage overflows into the Mohawk River during rainstorms. The total project is estimated to cost $3.6 million, with $900,000 to be offset by grant money, and the remainder to be financed through the state.
Three other Montgomery County communities also received funding for water infrastructure improvements. The Village of Fonda was awarded $2.4 million in grants toward a $4.7 million project. The Village of Fultonville received a $540,000 grant toward a $900,000 project. The Village of St. Johnsville received a $400,000 grant toward a $1.6 million project.
