Westerlo ribbon-cutting celebrates town 146 s first municipal water system
WESTERLO The town of Westerlo celebrated its first municipal water system with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday.
The project, which began in 1996, and was completed in December of 2005, has received two awards. It was named an American Public Works Association, Capital Branch, Project of the Year in the Environmental/Water Category for projects with budgets of $2 million to $10 million, and was also honored as the Water District with an Outstanding Engineering Achievement award by the Capital District Chapter of the New York State Society of Professional Engineers.
The project, which combined two outdated private systems, was funded by a $1.275 million grant and by an $850,000 interest-free loan from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.
Tuesday, at the Westerlo town park, Lt. Governor Mary O. Donohue and David Sterman, president of the states Environmental Facilities Corporation, applauded the efforts of community leaders and all involved in the project.
Donohue said she was a bit sentimental.
"I taught in Clarksville," Donohue said, naming a hamlet in nearby New Scotland. Donohue also stated that the government’s role in community projects, such as one "to ensure clean drinking water to a community in a beautiful area of the state," was essential.
"Our role is only as a catalyst," she said.
Donohue also praised and thanked state Senator Neil D. Breslin and Albany County Executive Michael G. Breslin, men she has known and worked with for a long time, for their partnership; she called the brothers "good, decent hard-working individuals."
"Nobody cares more about smaller communities than Lt. Governor Donohue," Sterman said.
Hannay Reels President Roger Hannay thanked all who volunteered throughout the project as well as his friends in the government, and said of government officials, "We wouldn’t have been able to do this without them."
The district serves about 80 properties and included upgrades to the existing groundwater sources, installation of distribution piping, and construction of a treatment facility and water storage tank.
