TOWN OF ULSTER >> The Town Board has approved spending $84,500 to develop specifications for the replacement of the 4.8 million-gallon Ulster Water District South water tank off East Chester Street Bypass.
At a board meeting last week, town officials said they have decided against recoating the tank.
“After the discussions that we have had individually, we have discounted the recoating option because of its limited life, and we have selected the option of building a new concrete tank,” town Supervisor James Quigley said.
“We are unclear on what size,” he added. “We will design three separate sizes and go to bid and pick the best value based upon the bids received during that process.”
The board’s resolution calls for the Kingston engineering firm Brinnier and Larios to develop specifications for tanks with a capacity of 3 million gallons, 3.5 million gallons, and 4 million gallons.
Officials last month were given an estimate of $2.43 million to repaint the existing tank for a useful life of 15 to 20 years. Replacement options for concrete tanks with a useful life of 50 to 75 years include installing a 3 million-gallon tank for $2.66 million or a 4.8 million-gallon tank for $3.64 million.
An engineering report from Brinnier and Larios noted that the 28-year-old tank was scheduled to be rehabilitated this year.
“The most recent inspection of the tank … indicated that the exterior coating of the tank had reached its useful life expectancy and the interior of the tank was in fair to good condition,” the report said.
The report noted that the tank is one of three storage units that provide a combined storage capacity of 6.8 million gallons for the Ulster Water District.
“Regulatory standards … have changed and now discourage excess storage due to issues with both chlorine residuals and possible formation of disinfection by-products,” the report said.
“A fire flow demand of 2,500 gallons per minute for three hours can be met with storage of 450,000 gallons,” the report said. “Two days storage for maximum daily domestic demand can be met with useable storage of 2.4 million gallons.”
Quigley noted that when a Kingston water line broke along Sawkill Road earlier this year, the Ulster Water District was able to provide some water to the city to keep its system operational.
