Press release
The City of Batavia continues to seek funding to address aging water infrastructure and lead service lines across the City.
Currently the City has applied for three separate different water related grants including:
1. A Water Infrastructure Improvement Act grant for a $4.17 M project to replace two aging water lines including the Cohocton and Walnut.
2. A Congressional Direct Funding request submitted to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, and Congresswoman Tenney for a $3.4 M project to replace aging water lines on Pearl Street.
3. Filed an Intended Use Plan (IUP) Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) funding request through Federal BIL Funding for the replacement of 900 lead service lines across the City of Batavia.
“The City is dedicated to improving our water system and making necessary repairs on infrastructure to reduce the amount of annual loss of water in the system and remove lead lines from the City. We have had discussions with County, State, and Federal representatives regarding the importance of these projects and look forward to a positive result related to our grant applications,” said Rachael Tabelski, City of Batavia City Manager.
The City of Batavia tracks lost water within our water system and currently in 2023 we lost approximately 23% of water produced at the Batavia Water Plant. This is defined as leakage. Leakage is water lost during transmission between the Batavia Water Plant and the individual meters at customer locations.
“The City conducts leak reports periodically to identify issues with City water transmission lines as a proactive measure to maintaining our water system. The leak report, along with Water Department field work, help the City identify water lines that need repair and replacement,” said Brett Frank, Director of Public Works.
As the City identifies aging and problematic water lines, they are placed into the City’s strategic capital plan and the cost to replace and repair is identified. The City then works to budget for the replacement of water lines through capital reserves and pursues grant funding for these projects.
In the past two years, the City has replaced water lines on Bank St. and Jackson St. which were identified as problematic based on leaks and breaks. Other water line improvements since 2017 include Harvester Ave., Richmond Ave., Union St., South Main St., Brooklyn Ave., and Summit St.
“Batavia is like many industrial North Eastern City’s with aging infrastructure and water loss attributed to aging infrastructure. We continue to plan for, and execute on projects that will improve the system and reduce the lost water. We are encouraged from the support we are receiving on grants for these projects to lower the burden on City residents,” said Tabelski.
According to the EPA, National studies indicate that, on average, 14 percent of water treated by water systems is lost to leaks. Some water systems have reported water losses exceeding 60 percent. Accounting for water and minimizing water loss are critical functions for any water utility that wants to be sustainable.