Town seeks state grant for Phoenicia Water District

The town is seeking a $750,000 grant from the state Office of Community Renewal to address longstanding problems that have prevented the Phoenicia Water District from working efficiently.

The application was submitted last week.

“We’ve run into some issues during the environmental review,” Shandaken Supervisor Robert Stanley said. “Doing an archeological survey, we found some bedrock, which may need to be blasted. We also ran into some issues with the water line crossing the Woodland Valley bridge, so we had to retract the previous grant and close that one out.”

The additional work has resulted in the town seeking nearly $300,000 more than the amount of a grant awarded nearly three years ago.

“The money would be used for continuation of a loop,” Stanley said.

The grant also would fund a pump that would improve the flow of water to about 50 customers.

Creating a loop and adding a pump would equalize the water pressure throughout the system.

“It would balance out the water district,” Stanley said. “Right now, it dead-ends at both ... the Woodland Valley bridge or coming down High Street to Woodland Valley . ...

“A couple of years ago, the Bridge Street [water] main froze and we were supplying water to about 40 homes with a hydrant,” he said. “So this line would entail crossing the Woodland Valley bridge, and it would at least give us a second line to provide potable water just in case either bridge failed.”