BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB)- Leaders of the Erie County Water Authority were in the hot seat on Wednesday. County lawmakers drilled them about the major water main break in Amherst two weeks ago.
It led to a boil water notice for more than 200,000 people.
“I understand doing things in the interest of caution but we shouldn’t be doing them for no reason at all,” said Majority Leader Joseph Lorigo.
ECWA Chairman Earl Jann told legislators the boil water notice was unnecessary. Jann said they noticed pressured dropped from 101 to 58.5 psi at the Ball Station tank on July 20. In two and a half hours he said the water pressure had returned to 100 psi.
Meanwhile, the boil water notice was issued. Jann said it’s only necessary when pressure drops below 20 psi for more than four hours.
The Erie County Health Department said the state recommended the notice. Delores Funke, with the Health Dept. said a number of factors contributed to the decision.
“A major leak in a 36 in. transmission main serving hundreds of thousands of people, pressures reduced by 60 percent coming out of their major pumping station […] pumps that needed to be restarted […] pressures noted less than 15 psi at the Wherle and Pleasant View tanks, reports from the public of very low pressure from both residents and commercial users, and reports of no water from residents and commercial users,” said Funke. “Reports of dry lines from the Williamsville and Clarence fire departments, reports of no water at Millard Fillmore Hospital and no water on the top two floors of St. Joseph’s Hospital”
She did applaud ECWA for its quick response to the leak
“This is a very difficult decision when it happens but you’re weighing public health against assumptions and what you can surmise based on your knowledge of the system,” said Funke.
Legislator Lynne Dixon said going forward she wants to see the “line of communication between the state and Erie County Health Department and the ECWA, that’s been figured out and in the future that the Water Authority be brought into those discussions.”
The ECWA is not run by the county, it’s a separate agency.
Legislator Ed Rath said, “I certainly hope there is improved communication and new processes in place going forward whereby the Department of Health and the Water Authority are on the same page because this was chaotic that night.”
Rath suggested the Health Department defer to the Water Authority.
“The Health Department’s role is protecting public health, the Water Authority’s role is to manage that system and also to protect public health,” said Funke. “I don’t’ think it’s possible for one of us to completely defer to the other.”
News 4 asked Jann what ECWA can do better moving forward to improve communication with county agencies.
“All we can do is talk to them and we can assure you we were in contact with the local representative of the Health Department,” said Jann. “She was sitting in the control room next to our executive engineer and I don’t know how we could have any more direct contact than that.”
Jann was also questioned by legislators about how ECWA can better inform customers about problems that arise.
“We are going to try to increase the number of emails and also phone numbers we have available also, with opt in programs, where we can send text messages to people’s cell phones to let them know what’s going on,” said Jann.
He also told us they’ve hired a company to prevent their website from crashing. Line breaks will also be listed clearly on the front page.
The third main topic legislators addressed was how to improve the infrastructure.
Jann said there are 529 miles of cast iron pipe and 22 miles of concrete pipe, like the one that broke in Amherst.
“That line was put in in 1971, which means it’s only lasting about half of what its expected life expectancy should be,” said Jann.
It will cost more than a billion dollars to replace the cast iron pipe and $44 million to replace the concrete pipe.
“Right now we’re looking at about 11 and a half miles of pipe to do next year and ongoing,” said Jann. “I know that doesn’t sound like much compared to the amount of pipe that needs to be replaced but unless someone comes up with a big pot of money for us that’s where we are.”
We asked if customers will see an increase in their infrastructure charge, he said it’s too soon to tell.
