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New Matamoras has the same basket of water infrastructure problems as many other places around it.
Nearly 17% of the water lines started out in the village's original water system in 1901, according to the Washington County Commissioners' compilation of county drinking water problems, "Washington County Safe Water Project."
The cast iron lines had 4-inch diameters, but corrosion and scaling from iron and manganese puts many of them now at an actual capacity closer to two inches. The condition of the lines could be visually confirmed when the village installed water meters at each service connection as part of a large improvement project from 2016 to 2019.
At that time, workers found 10 connections made of lead, and those were able to be replaced as part of the project. But the old cast-iron lines have some brass parts that do in fact contain lead. The cast iron lines also contain lead at the bell joints, where lengths of line are connected.
The iron and manganese problem is being held at bay with aggressive line flushing, monthly as temperatures allow, instead of the more common once-a-year schedule. They also use a polyphosphate agent that is very effective at keeping the iron and manganese particles in suspension, but it gets really expensive, according to Matamoras water and wastewater Superintendent Greg Danver.
"That could be a long-run solution, I suppose, but really, the best thing is to try to remove it," he said.
Danver explained that the flow of water that comes with flushing hydrants or filling the municipal swimming pool can still stir things up in a bad way.
"Even though the flushing and phosphate do a great job, iron and manganese particles lie in the crevices in these scaled pipes and if even a small amount dislodges, it makes the water very dirty, very fast," he said.
"My favorite saying is, 'Why put clean water in a dirty glass?'" Danver said.
That explains his conviction that the village's distribution lines need to be taken care of before they turn thoughts to a new well site, treatment system and storage tank.
The system's cast iron mains total about 6,260 feet. Danver said the village is estimating their replacement with PVC will cost around $1.4 million. The new lines also will need to be 6 inches, not 4 inches, in order to increase pressure and support fire flow in case of an emergency.
In his comments for the county's "Clean Water Project" survey, Danver specifically mentions school safety in that regard.
"Our elementary school is served with one of those 4-inch lines," he said. "It's tied to a loop with a 6-inch line, but if the 6-inch line is out of service for some reason, the 4-inch line cannot support the appropriate volume of fire flow needed."
Installation of the 6-inch pipe would increase the water volume, pressure and quality not only in the immediate areas affected but everywhere within the village's system, Danver said.