Rosalia working on water plans during delay in construction funds

The Town of Rosalia is in the process of working to update its plans for its Small Water System Management Program (SWSMP). The update is part of a larger goal to obtain pre-construction funding for the improvement of the town's water system.

“We're going through it and seeing what things we need and why we need them,” said Mayor Nanette Konishi.

The town is working on the update to the plan, which it hopes will eventually allow for moving forward with the water system improvements.

“That helps qualify us for funding,” said Konishi.

The town had been in contact with J-U-B Engineers and the Department of Health Office of Safe Drinking Water to discuss the needed water system improvements, but that work is on hold at the moment.

“Because of the lack of the capital budget at the state level, that is being suspended for the time being,” explained Konishi. “We're not moving forward on anything until we get the go- ahead.”

The update to the town's plan is something that can be worked on in the mean time, she said, as the town is in charge of doing that. The eventual hope is to be able to apply for funding to allow for pre-construction planning.

In the Rosalia town newsletter sent out two weeks ago, the mayor detailed the hoped-for construction plans, which would include replacing old and leaking water mains, service lines, valves and fire hydrants. The intent of this construction would be to reduce water loss and improve water delivery to homes and fire protection to the school.

“It will also upgrade the water system control telemetry, which will allow for more efficient control and monitoring of the system and prevent unintended overflows at the storage reservoirs, which has been a significant problem in the past,” Konishi wrote in the newsletter. “This project will address an additional need to reduce non-wastewater flows to the town's sewer treatment facility. Water line leaks contributed to elevated groundwater levels, and groundwater subsequently makes its way into the sewer collection system and negatively impacts the treatment capacity of the wastewater treatment facility.”

Konishi also detailed that the state Department of Health has mandated public water systems reduce water loss to less than 10 percent of their total use by the end of this year. She said water losses in the past in Rosalia have amounted to more than 30 percent.

“Those things are critical for anything we hope to do for economic development, especially the infrastructure part,” she said.

Konishi said the construction is not off the table right now, just suspended. She is hoping discussions can resume again soon, but it all depends on what the legislature does.

“It's a matter of waiting,” she said.