College seeks water district hook up

SUNY Ulster is seeking approval from Rosendale and Marbletown officials to move forward with a $2.87 million connection to the High Falls Water District.

The project was discussed during a joint meeting of municipal town boards, with college President Alan Roberts saying the current system does not provide the quality of water needed for some courses.

“We have equipment in our science labs that we can’t get water pressure to do experiments,” he said. “We had a grant (to get) a $150,000 piece of equipment that we brought into the lab for two years, but the water was so poor that it corroded the machine, so, with our own fund balance, we brought back the (equipment). It lasted two years, and now it’s just sitting there because it doesn’t work.”

In an engineering report, officials wrote there would be a 2.3-mile line from the High Falls Water District, which is operated by Rosendale and Marbletown. It would supply 35,070 gallons per day to the campus, based on current use plus growth of 2 percent annually.

Officials wrote the current High Falls Water District demand is about 27,000 gallons per day to connections on 224 properties.

“The capacity of the HFWD treatment plant is 216,000 gpd,” officials wrote. “The plant has 500,000 gallons of raw water storage and 300,000 gallons of finished water storage.”

Water to the college currently comes from three wells that supply up to 15,000 gallons per day during the regular academic year and 7,000 gallons per day when college is not in session.

“The SUNY Ulster water system meets (state) standards but the quality and quantity of the water from the wells is poor with high hardness, high sulfur and iron content, and declined yields,” officials wrote.

“Water at the college is also plagued with taste and odor problems,” they wrote. “The water quality problems adversely affect the on-campus water distributions system ... (which) include scaling, corrosion, and decreased service life of boilers, chillers, kitchen equipment, fixtures, valves.”

Town officials have been negotiating with the college for about a year to allow the extension, but have been unable to agreed on allowing other properties to connect. Ulster County officials and college representatives say funding is limited to educational use, but town officials said Legislators Manna Jo Greene and Richard Parete have promised to seek an exemption from the restriction.