Town of Jay to apply for WIIA funding

AU SABLE FORKS | Thanks to three successful public hearings held on July 22, the Town of Jay will now seek funding through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Water Infrastructure Improvement Act (WIIA) to implement approximately $9 million worth of various upgrade projects across all three of its water districts. Following the public hearings, in which there was no opposition, the town board approved each bond resolution — $4,052,727 for the AuSable Forks Water District, $2,469,348 for the Jay Water District, and $1,824,336 for the Upper Jay Water District. If awarded, this grant would cover 50% of the project costs. According to the final engineering report prepared by MJ Engineering, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Land Surveying, "due to the age of the existing facilities, issues related to WTP upgrades, source of supply, transmission/distribution systems, and system redundancy, improvements to the town's public water systems are needed to meet current and future water system demands, regulatory requirements, and ensure system reliability." The planned improvements include DEC-mandated water meter installations across all three water districts, following a Notice of Violation issued by the New York State Department of Health in November 2022 for insufficient supply and other deficiencies. Other improvements differ by each water district. Improvements include replacing the Rolling Mill Road storage tank and valve pit for the AuSable Forks Water District; constructing and installing new production wells at the Nugent Road well field and a new water transmission line to the Nugent Road water treatment plant in the Jay Water District; and making improvements to the Upper Jay storage tank and booster station in the Upper Jay Water District. "Nothing is obviously set in stone just yet, and we aren't moving forward with these projects, as nothing's an emergency right now," said Town of Jay Supervisor Matt Stanley. "All we're looking to do is to acquire funding." The deadline to apply for the WIIA grant was the end of July. Stanley said he anticipates the town should hear back by this fall whether it was awarded the grant. And while the town is currently seeking out other funding sources, these water upgrade projects will not move forward if the WIIA grant is not secured. "If we don't get the WIIA grant, we won't do the work. We can't play $9 million on fewer than 600 users," he stated. "We want to be as proactive as possible to make this as inexpensive as possible for our users and taxpayers." For more information or updates, visit townofjayny.gov.

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Town of Jay to apply for WIIA funding

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