Press-Republican

Local News

August 31, 2010

Malone gets grant to replace water system

MALONE — Word of a final $558,300 grant ends an eight-year quest by the Village of Malone to replace its entire 120-year-old water system.

The village was the only North Country community to receive water-project funds under the 2010 competitive round of applications for a State Division of Housing and Community Renewal Community Development Block Grant.

But housing-rehabilitation grants were awarded to Constable ($280,000), the Village of Saranac Lake ($400,000), Schuyler Falls ($220,000) and Westville ($400,000).

And the Town of Ticonderoga received $599,984 in grant funds for its public-sewer system.

Total water-system upgrades in the Village of Malone have topped $5,670,000, an expense Mayor Brent Stewart said village residents would never have been able to afford without grants.

The urgency to replace the aging system came to light in 2002 when the State Department of Health found contamination in pre-treated water in the village's uncovered Pinnacle Reservoir.

The village was awarded a low-interest $4.6 million loan from the state's Drinking Water Revolving Fund to start the work in 2004 at its Chasm Falls site.

Malone soon after had the ability to supply more than 2.8 million gallons of clean water to the system's 13,000 users.

Nearly half the cost is paid by the State Department of Corrections, which taps into the village's water system for its three prison sites in Malone, the mayor said.

The second phase of funding for the water system was awarded last year for $515,000, which paid for replacement of the feeder line under the Main Street bridge.

That line was prone to winter freezing. The water-delivery line now bypasses the vulnerable point and loops around in a semi-circle from Main Street to Duane Street and connects with a line at the Pearl Street bridge.

The final $558,300 phase will replace the water line that comes from Chasm Falls to a pumping station right near the Malone Recreation Park and also ends at the Pearl Street bridge.

E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Breaking News
New Today
Local News

Recent Article Comments
Albany Round-up

Photo of the Day
Strange News
Videos: Editor Picks
Obama Scraps Birth Control Mandate US Airmen's Killer Sentenced to Life in Germany Raw Video: Deadly Blasts in Syria Romney Slams President Obama at CPAC Gingrich: Pres. Obama 'waging War on Religion' Navy Names Ship for Gabrielle Giffords 5 Killed in Wrong-way Crash on I-10 in La. Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal $25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service Ga Girl Fights Off Kidnapper at Walmart Skip the Coffee Cup and Inhale Your Caffeine Fix