North Granville misses water grant

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Granville Highway Department workers Nick Loomis (left) and John Harney dug up a portion of Route 12A in Truthville Monday to fix a water leak.

By Krystle S. Morey

North Granville residents will have to wait another year – or more – for any upgrades to the aging infrastructure of their deteriorating water system.
Despite being plagued by a series of water line breaks and dirty tap water, the 240 residents were notified recently that the town would not receive a state grant of up to $1 million to fix the 75-year-old water system.
“There is going to be no change in infrastructure,” Matt Hicks, Granville’s town supervisor, confirmed.
The town submitted an application for a Community Development Block Grant in July. Hicks said this week he received a letter earlier this month, notifying him that the application had been denied.
The grant was going to be used to replace and repair various pipes and equipment and pay for a $5,000 meter reader. It was also going to be used to pay thousands of dollars for a new pump and well drilling that the town paid for this summer to replenish the North Granville water supply.
“I don’t know why we didn’t get it,” Hicks said.
Water repairs in the North Granville Water District would
cost the town $3-4 million. The town sought the grant to help ensure that the town wouldn’t go into debt, as it would if it pursued a loan.
Hicks, upon receiving the denial letter, requested an exit conference at which state officials will outline why they denied the grant.
“It’s a very competitive situation,” Hicks said. “Down in Albany, they call it the ‘Hunger Games.’”
Hicks said he didn’t know when he would hear back from the state about the exit conference, adding that if the state doesn’t respond he was going to “be after them.”
Hicks said there are a few other smaller grants for which he town applied that will hopefully cover specific costs such as that of the meter reader. He said notification for those applications should come in the spring.
This is the second time Granville has applied for a state grant to help address issues in the North Granville Water District.
The state denied the first application because it was submitted with general census data for the entire town of Granville, not, as required, just those who live in the North Granville water district.
The town, assisted by CHA Consulting of Albany, submitted the second application for the grant that included a survey of the 240 North Granville water users.
Hicks said the grant could have been denied because it would affect only 240 users.
He said the town will re-apply for the grant next year but he was not sure whether the surveys, which included questions from household income to race, would have to be redone for that application.
The village of Whitehall received a $750,000 state grant to repair its aging water system, which has sustained numerous water main breaks and other infrastructure problems in recent years. The Whitehall district has about 1,220 users.
“They have some serious infrastructure problems over there,” Hicks said of Whitehall. “We’re trying to be proactive … and not let it get to that point.”
Referring to North Granville, Hicks added: “It’s going to become a critical situation … like it is in Whitehall.”
Hicks said the situation will only get worse: “I have no problem Band Aid-ing the system for another couple of years, but it’s going to be a hell of a mess for the next guy.”
The amount raised in taxes in North Granville – about $44,000 annually – is, for the most part, accounted for already.
“The system is only going to get more expensive to run and maintain,” Hicks said. “Two hundred and forty people cannot afford what needs to be done here.”
When Danielle Shaw, one of the 240 water users, was notified about the state’s denial of the grant, her reaction was similar to that of several of her neighbors: “Oh, great.”
“What’s going to happen now?” she asked. “Are they going to pass it along to the taxpayers?”
Shaw added: “We have crappy water and now we have to keep paying for it. There’s a problem here.”
Shaw said she and her family still drink and bathe in the water, because she’s done it her whole life.
“It’s a scary situation,” she said.
Being denied the grant means that residents in North Granville will have to deal with dirty water. Because the system is strained, when the fire department battles a fire in the area or when The Orchard Nursing and Rehabilitation Center flushes its sprinkler system, it has a negative impact.
To address this, the town recently replaced a pump and dug one of its wells deeper, hoping the cost of these improvements would be absorbed by the grant.
The town is still waiting on water test results from the Department of Health before the well can be put back online.
Hicks said last week the tanks in the North Granville Water District were full.
“We’re in good shape with water,” he said.
Last month, when the system was strained, a service line broke in the district. Hicks said he’s concerned about what the winter weather will bring.
“If we have a severe winter like we did a couple of years ago … if we have any water main breaks this winter, it’s going to get expensive,” Hicks said. “Last year we got lucky. Our winter was pretty mild.”