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Fallsburg board details response after late-night water main break, plans pipe replacements this fall
Summary
At the July 15 Fallsburg Town Board meeting, the supervisor described a late-night water main break that dumped roughly 250,000–300,000 gallons, outlined an engineering plan to begin replacing old mains this fall at an estimated $2 million per mile, and said a targeted boil-water alert for La Vista was issued as a precaution though town tests found no contamination.
Supervisor (speaker 1) told the Town Board on July 15 that a late-night break in the town system caused the loss of an estimated 250,000 to 300,000 gallons of water and intensified an ongoing shortage affecting parts of Fallsburg.
He said the town has an engineered replacement plan from Ken Ellsworth and intends to start replacing aging underground mains this fall. "It's roughly $2,000,000 a mile to replace," the supervisor said, and the board is seeking funding to begin the work.
Board members and residents asked how the leak was found and why some streets were affected while others were not. A resident asked, "why certain houses were affected rather than the whole street," noting the patchy impact in La Vista. The supervisor explained that severe breaks can surface and that the town also uses meter-read spikes and a leak-detection contractor with listening devices to locate less obvious leaks.
The supervisor described the town's tank capacity and current levels: the La Vista tanks can hold roughly 28 feet of water, each foot equating to about 38,000 gallons; at the time of the meeting they were near four feet, below the board's comfort level of about 10 feet.
Because low pressure can allow backflow from private plumbing into the public system, the town issued a targeted boil-water alert for the La Vista area at the request of the Board of Health, even though repeated tests submitted by the town showed no contamination. The supervisor said the town erred on the side of caution and complied with the Board of Health's request.
The town also reported taking emergency measures including aggressive meter-reading review and shutoffs where private-side leaks were discovered. The supervisor said the town hopes the planned pipe replacements and additional well sites will make next summer's supply more manageable.
The town's next steps are to pursue funding for the mains replacement, begin preparatory work this fall, continue water testing, and monitor recovery of tank levels during the low-usage period triggered by an upcoming local holiday.
