Joe Coffey, the commissioner of the city of Albany Water Department, said that the city generally never uses the Basic Creek Reservoir in the late summer and early fall because of its tendency to have algae blooms, both toxic and nontoxic.

We urge municipal leaders to inform the public of what they know and to apply for funds to find out what they don’t.

The problem in 2018 spiked in summer, when it is easy for algae to take hold, town officials say.

Officials are not sure of the extent of contamination, or if the streams behind the property run to the Watervliet Reservoir, but they are proceeding as if the streams do enter the reservoir, said Rick Georgeson, spokesman for the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation’s Region 4.

After being re-appointed to the town’s water board and again offering a monthly report on Westerlo’s water district, William Bichteman said the district is still financially strapped as more expenses arise.

Westerlo town leaders asserted that the level of chemicals detected in the water was always there, but that state standards changed. The state’s health department, however, said the standards have not changed.

WESTERLO — The public raised concerns about contamination of the the town’s water with bromomethane at Westerlo’s town board meeting last Tuesday.

The Westerlo Town Board moved forward Tuesday on a grant application that would help fund filtration of the chemical bromomethane from its public water supply. Levels higher than the state standard were found in the water this winter, but are not considered hazardous.

BETHLEHEM – A water-main break on New Scotland Road in Bethlehem left a few customers without service briefly on Monday, while more than few ended up with discolored, but safe, water.

George Kansas, the commissioner of Public Works, told The Enterprise that two water mains run below Route 85, a 10-inch and a 16-inch line.