GUILDERLAND — It’s been a year since the town of Guilderland was required to report to residents that the water in one part of town had had an average, over the year, above the limit deemed acceptable by the federal government for one harmful chemical. 

Since then, the town has implemented a number of measures designed to resolve this problem with total trihalomethanes, or TTHMs, in the Terry Avenue, or Fort Hunter area. Except for the four-quarter period that was reported and the one immediately following, the results over the past year have shown no problem that would require the town to report. 

Guilderland’s superintendent of water, Timothy McIntyre, said this week he was “optimistic” the measures meant to reduce the level of contaminants in the water are helping to reduce TTHMs and another harmful chemical, haloacetic acids, in the water supply; both are byproducts of disinfection. 

TTHMs and haloacetic acid both have demonstrated “carcinogenic activity” in laboratory animals, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and the agency sets standards for acceptable amounts of these byproducts in drinking water.

“I’m going to say yes,” McIntyre said of the problem being solved, “comparing this last year and the previous year. I want to give it a little more time and let these things showcase themselves. It looks very favorable to us at this point.” 

Even in the Fort Hunter area, there is no need for residents to filter their water, McIntyre said. “The numbers have been well below acceptable levels,” he said. 

The most challenging time of year — summer — is coming up, he said, noting that weather and rainfall are unpredictable factors that influence the organic material in surface water. 

“If we have a real hot summer and no rain, all bets are off,” McIntyre said. “In a hot summer, you end up with a stagnation of water.” 

Another factor is the amount of ice that formed over the winter on the Watervliet Reservoir, McIntyre said, which is the source for most of the town’s water. If there is not much icing on the reservoir, algae may bloom earlier, meaning there is more organic matter in the reservoir longer, which could increase the likelihood of elevated numbers, McIntyre explained.

“You’re at the mercy of the elements,” he said.

The next results should be out in a couple of weeks, according to McIntyre. Sampling was most recently done this month. The samples were, as always, he said, sent out to an independent laboratory, and it takes two or three weeks to receive the results. 

McIntyre said cautiously, “I like what I’m seeing over the past year, but we’ll have to see.” 

Results 

Four times a year, the town draws samples at four sites: Terry Avenue, Serafini Pump Station, Westmere Tower, and in McKownville, formerly at the Best Western and now at the Fine Line Tint Shop. 

According to water sampling results from 2017 to the present obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request:

TTHMs: 

— Terry Avenue: TTHMs were above the acceptable level at Terry Avenue in terms of the average of the four quarters from February through November 2018. The limit set by the EPA is 80 parts per billion, which is the same as 80 micrograms per liter. 

The four-quarter average was 88.15 at Terry Avenue; these included a level of 125 in August and of 106 in November. Guilderland officials, as required by the state, reported this in a letter sent to residents and posted on the town website, in mid-January 2019. 

TTHMs were again above the limit in terms of the average for the next four quarters at Terry Avenue, from May 2018 through February 2019, with an average of 82.025. 

Since it’s a rolling four-quarter average, any higher numbers stay in the equation for almost a year, until they work their way out, McIntyre said; there is no state requirement to report again when the same numbers keep the average high for a second time. 

The following period fell below the limit, to 78.025, in the average of the four quarters at Terry Avenue from August 2018 through May 2019. 

— Serafini Drive: The amounts of TTHMs in the water at the Serafini Drive pump station has been over the limit in a number of individual quarters, but not in terms of an average over four quarters, which is the standard for any requirement to report. 

The TTHM level at Serafini Drive was 83.5 in August 2017. In August 2018, it was 117. In November 2018 it was over, at 92.8, which brought the average for that four-quarter period, from February through November of 2018, to 76.875, close to but not over the 80-parts-per-billion limit.

In February 2019, the TTHM level at Serafini Drive had dropped to 29.8. In August 2019, the TTHMs at Serafini, at 70.2, were nowhere near as high as they had been a year before. 

— McKownville: Testing is done near McKown Road, at the Fine Line Tint Shop at 1436 Western Ave. 

The four-quarter average here has not risen above the action level during the period for which The Enterprise has figures, starting from the year leading up to May 2018. One quarter during that period — for August 2017 — was over, at 86.5. A year later, the figure for November 2018 was also over, at 99.3. 

— Westmere Tower: TTHMs were over the limit in Westmere Tower in just one quarter, in November 2018, at 85.7. This site has never been over the limit in terms of a four-quarter average. 

Haloacetic acid: 

The level of this contaminant in Guilderland water has not risen above the action level of 60 parts per billion in any four-quarter period for which The Enterprise has records. 

In August 2017, the level was above the limit for just one quarter in both Terry Avenue, where it was 65, and Serafini Drive, at 65.3.

It was again over the limit in both in August 2018, with a reading of 63.49 at Terry Avenue and 79.468 at Serafini Drive. In November 2018, it was above the limit at only Serafini Drive, where it stood at 70.8; it had fallen to 56 at Terry Avenue.

In August 2019, it was up to 67.1, above the limit, at Terry Avenue, and below the limit, at 41.5, at Serafini Drive. 

Haloacetic acid single-quarter results did not ever rise above the action level at Westmere or McKownville. 

Mitigation measures 

Measures that McIntyre had explained a year ago were planned are now either completed or in the process of being implemented, he said this week. These are: 

— Increased frequency of carbon exchange: The town increased the frequency, McIntyre said, of its carbon exchange. The water department has six large tanks, each filled with carbon filters to filter out organics, McIntyre said. All of the carbon in each of the vessels is changed every year, with two vessels done at a time, he said. 

All of the water from the reservoir that goes through the water plant goes through those vessels, McIntyre said;

— Diversifying Guilderland’s water supply: McIntyre is excited about the town’s new interconnect with Rotterdam that will allow it to use groundwater that comes from the Great Flats Aquifer, he said. He called it “great water” and added that he hopes this interconnect will be online by May. The Rotterdam interconnect is in addition to one the town also has with the city of Albany.

The Rotterdam project involves, McIntyre said, a series of not only pipes but also pumps and controls. “You’ve got to be able to control pressures, so we can control the amount of water we receive from Rotterdam,” he explained. 

One part of this project involves putting in a loop that will make it possible to divert the Rotterdam water from Route 158 to the Fort Hunter area, he said;

— Water-circulating machines in the Watervliet Reservoir: “SolarBees” — solar-powered mixers 16 feet in diameter, float to float — were added to the Watervliet Reservoir in the spring of 2019, McIntyre said, funded through a grant that the city of Watervliet obtained. 

Joseph LaCivita, general manager of Watervliet, told The Enterprise that four SolarBees had been installed in the reservoir in Guilderland.

Emil Anheluk of the marketing department of the SolarBee manufacturer, Ixom Watercare / Medora, said the machines provide targeted circulation of the warmer, top layer of the water column to disrupt the proliferation of bacteria. 

As the name implies, the machines are powered by a series of solar panels that stay above the water’s surface.

“They’re able to turn over a lot of water,” McIntyre said earlier of the SolarBees. “The algae isn’t able to bloom. Those mixers should make it possible to control the water before it gets to the point where chemicals are needed,” he added earlier; and

— Mixers in the town’s water towers: The Fort Hunter water tower, behind the Fort Hunter firehouse, has been completely reconditioned, and a mixer installed. 

“Water has the ability to stagnate in a tank, just as in the reservoir,” said McIntyre. “This is a very gentle mixer, to keep the water moving.” 

The water department also plans to add mixers to the two other water tanks in town — at the Westmere tower on Willey Street and at the Relyea Road tower. McIntyre hopes to get that done this summer.