State of Disrepair: The Cost of Clean Water

By Helene Biandudi

Williamson, NY – The Town of Williamson is one of many small towns and villages spending millions to keep their small, century-old water treatment plants from going down the drain. And, as WXXI's Helene Biandudi reports, some see no other option.

"A lot of the guys here, this is the job they've had ever since getting out of high school..."

Calvin Hood takes a lot of pride in his job.

"We have this connection to this community and hence we have the connection to the plant," Hood says.

He's the chief operator of the water plant in the small, Wayne County town of Williamson - just east of Rochester. Hood's "second-home" as he calls it, is a tan-colored brick building on the shore of Lake Ontario. He monitors the town's water supply from a dimly-lit, cement-walled office. Two electronic screens above his metal desk track water usage and pressure.

This is one of 3,100 public water plants in the state. It serves about 6,000 people. But it's almost 100-years old. And with age comes its share of problems.

"There's hydraulic problems," Hood says. "There's uh you know, building structural problems that you have to address and then there's you know quality water problems."

Hood says just keeping the plant running costs the town a million dollars a year. That doesn't include the cost of testing required by the environmental protection agency. Most of that has to be done by a private company.

"If we were a big water plant with a big lab and all the equipment and this and that," say Hood. "You know, we just take the water up and test for this or test for that, and your lab guy will say ahhh, you got some of this in there, this and that.' Small towns, small departments, we gotta send all this stuff out and it costs a lot of money."

Pat Scalera, CEO of the New York Rural Water Association, says some small towns decide the costs are too much to bear and they close their plants down.

"In the Western part of the state we find that it tends to be their only option is to go with the larger water authorities due to the economies of scale and the lack of a tax base," explains Scalera.

One of those larger authorities is just a few miles away from Williamson. When you walk into the Monroe County Water Authority's Shoremont Plant, you get the "I'm not in Kansas anymore" feeling.

The plant is modern and spacious. Its on-site lab is meticulous. Techs in white lab coats are busy reviewing water samples. The executive engineer of the Authority, Richard Metzger, says they're checking for contaminants making sure the half-million people served by the Authority are drinking clean water.

"We now serve Monroe and partially each of the adjacent five counties," Metzger says.

The Authority has already replaced a number of small plants like the one in Williamson. And Metzger anticipates that number will grow.

"There'll be a new regulation or a tighter perimeter that will be more stringent," Metzger says. "And they may not be able to do it with their plant or they'll say well, we can do it here, but it's going to be very costly to implement a new technology.' Those are decisions that smaller plants are gonna be faced with."

He says in addition to costs, staffing is becoming a problem for small towns.

"Some of the best run plants have been run by a really competent, very state of the art superintendent," Metzger says. "But as those people retire out it becomes difficult for a village or town board to look at how do we replace that person."

The Authority is building anther, $150 million treatment plant even closer to Williamson. But Metzger says the Authority wont' step in unless asked.

"We only serve communities that request our service," Metzger says. "We're an option for anybody that wants to come to us, but we do not go out and drive that process."

But Hood sees the new plant as a way to put more pressure on smaller towns to consolidate. If Williamson gives up control of its water supply - and water rates - Hood worries town residents will lose out.

"I look at things like that as a Verizon ad," Hood says. "You know they say $49 a month for you know, the first year. You know what happens after the first year, well that's in the little print and you don't have to worry about that right now, but after the first year, what's going to happen?"

For now, town supervisor, Jim Hoffman, agrees with Hood. He says Williamson has long history of producing quality water and he doesn't see that changing anytime soon.