WESTFIELD – Mayor Daniel M. Knapik has requested the City Council to authorize a $3.75 million bond to finance repairs to the Granville Dam, which provides about half of the city’s drinking water supply. The City Council referred the appropriation request to its Finance Committee for further review.
The Granville Reservoir, which is the city’s primary surface water supply, is currently off line while the transmission line between the reservoir in Granville and the Water Treatment Plant in Southwick is replaced.
The present pipeline limits the flow of water and is leaking, while the proposed pipeline is projected to increase flow from the reservoir to the treatment plant by 1 to 1.5 million gallons a day, a cost avoidance measure by substantially reducing the demand for well water.
The project, now underway, is being financed through a federal low-interest loan, part of which may be forgiven over time, administered through a state revolving fund program. The state has authorized $2.7 million for the project, which include upgrades at the treatment plan as well as replacing the transmi9ssion line. One of the treatment plant upgrades includes installation of two hydroelectric turbines designed to generate power sufficient to operate the plant.
The Water Commission voted in April to request a $3.6 million bond to repair the Granville Reservoir spillway and dam. The commission also approved an outdoor water-use ban to begin when the reservoir was taken off line in the middle of April for both the dam repair and transmission main projects.
Water Resource Department Engineer Charles Darling said this morning that the dam repair work includes reconstruction of a section of the reservoir overflow channel which was washed out during Tropical Storm Irene, and repairs to the dam that have occurred since the structure was constructed in 1928.
That damage was given a temporary fix in November of 2011 while state dam inspectors, Water Resource Department officials and the Tighe & Bond engineering team assessed damage and considered options to repair the spillway. The engineering cost projection for the spillway repair is $2.1 million, but the project will also include an estimated $1.1 million in repairs to the face of the reservoir dam.
The dam face will be augmented by pushing the “toe” or base out 30 feet, creating a more gradual slope.
The original dam, built in 1928, was constructed with “weeping tiles” under the top layer of soil, a system to wick water off the dam face. However, over the years, the dam face has been damaged and a new drainage system will be installed to remediate existing, as well as preventing future, damage to the earthen dam.
Officials have planned to do both the pipeline and reservoir repair projects at the same time projects were scheduled to be done simultaneously, but the reservoir work has been delayed.
The City Council approved a $2,893,000 bond request for the Granville Raw Water Pipeline Replacement project last fall and the state approved the revolving grant funding for that work.
“The transmission line project has already started,” Darling said, “but the bid opening for the spillway and dam repair has been delayed. It was originally scheduled for tomorrow (May 7, 2013) and will now be held on May 29.”
Darling said that the Granville Conservation Commission, which is reviewing the project because it is in its jurisdiction, has yet to issue its order of conditions for the repair work.
“The state Office of Dam Safety (a division of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation) has not issued a permit either,” Darling said. “So the conditions in those permits may affect the bid prices, which was why it was delayed.”
The bid also cannot be acted upon until the financing bond is approved by the City Council. That bond will be paid through the Water Resource Department’s water rate revenue.
