Grant to fund water study

Local News

October 21, 2011

Staff Reports The Tonawanda News The Tonawanda News Fri Oct 21, 2011, 12:14 AM EDT

— — State assistance totaling $640,000 was approved for a tri-city water study on Thursday for Niagara County’s three cities.

North Tonawanda, Niagara Falls and Lockport have been exploring sharing their water services since the municipalities received a $440,000 state grant in 2007, when a study was performed by Conestoga-Rovers & Associates, an international consulting firm.

Thursday’s grant allotment would be utilized to develop a regional water efficiency project to consolidate the public water treatment and supply that would achieve a 10-year projected savings of $10,424,160, according to state officials.

The grants will be administered through the New York Department of State’s Local Government Efficiency Program.

Previous recommendations made by the firm would have Lockport pipe potable water from North Tonawanda through a 13-mile raw water line used to channel Niagara River water to a treatment facility in Lockport.

Other suggestions included closing water treatment operations in North Tonawanda and Lockport and have treated water provided by Niagara Falls to all three cities. That move was estimated to cost $20 million.

In the tri-city study, the firm analyzed 24 water and wastewater shared service agreements between two and three cities.

Secretary of State Cesar A. Perales said the funding is part of $4.74 million in state assistance that will be doled out to help municipalities, school districts, special districts and law enforcement agencies in areas throughout New York state streamline government services and operations to reduce costs and property taxes.

The funding will support 29 initiatives, with nearly $4 million in funding from grants to implement 10 consolidation and efficiency projects that are estimated by grantees to generate $62.3 million in savings to taxpayers over the next 10 years.

“I am very excited and pleased to receive this grant to continue the tri-city water study between the cities of Lockport, North Tonawanda and Niagara Falls,” said City of Lockport Mayor Mike Tucker in a statement. “Sharing services, we believe, is the way to ease the burden of taxation on our residents as well as continuing to offer quality services.”

North Tonawanda Mayor Rob Ortt could not be reached for comment.

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