Brandle Meadows discolors village water

ALTAMONT — Village water ran red on Monday evening.

Iron and minerals were stirred from the bottom of the village’s century-old pipes when construction workers at Brandle Meadows turned the valve that connects the development to the municipal system. 

Local developer Jeff Thomas got access to village water for his senior-housing development that is just outside of village limits on Brandle Road after suits and countersuits between himself, the village, and the owners of property on that road where the village found water.  The village has drilled two wells on that land and has connected them to Altamont’s water system, which provides water to Thomas’s project.

“There have been construction issues that have been worked out, which is why we’re there,” said Rich Straut, an engineer with Barton and Loguidice, hired by the village.  Inspectors from his firm were at the site when the valve was turned, he said, and neighboring residents came out of their homes, saying that their tap water had turned brown. 

Joan Kappel, who lives on Main Street, discovered her water was dark at about four in the afternoon, she said.  Unable to reach village trustees or the department of public works, she ended up calling the Guilderland Police in an effort to alert village officials to the problem and found that the department had received 25 similar phone calls.

Contractors at Brandle Meadows are supposed to contact the village in writing 72 hours before doing something of that nature, Straut said.  That directive came last fall when work was done without proper notice to the department of public works or Barton and Loguidice, he said.

“We told them explicitly that they cannot, without authorization, do that,” Mayor James Gaughan said on Tuesday of the contractors’ use of village water.

Bette and Cring, the construction manager of the project which declined comment on Wednesday, directed a worker to charge the system, said Timothy McIntyre, the village’s superintendent of public works.  That process drops the pressure in the village’s system, he said, and “creates a whirlwind in the pipes.”

The unusual flow disrupts the deposits that lie along the bottom of the pipes, he said.  Both McIntyre and Straut said that the water isn’t unsafe to drink and that it is expected to be out of the system within a day.

“The locus of responsibility is a serious one,” said Gaughan; village officials weren’t yet sure on Tuesday who was responsible for turning the valve.  “This would not have happened if they followed protocol,” he said.

He is currently drafting a citation, Gaughan said, and, according to Straut, other measures are being considered to safeguard the access to municipal water — the village will likely install a lock on the valve.