Work crews are set to finish the year-long restoration of a New Hyde Park water tower Nov. 20 after several hiccups delayed the project.
The routine overhaul of Tank 19, operated by the Water Authority of Western Nassau County, was expected to be complete over the summer.
But weather, equipment breakdowns and difficulties navigating the work site pushed it back, Water Authority Superintendent Mick Tierney said.
“It was a little bit longer than we all anticipated, including the contractor, who wanted to get it done and get the heck out of there,” he said.
The $3.5 million project has involved repainting the 1.3 million-gallon tank’s interior and exterior, doing electrical work, altering the tower’s staircase and adding entryways.
Workers were expected to finish the paint job Nov. 16, when an engineer to make sure it meets safety standards. An electrician will install the tank’s mixing system later that week.
State regulations say water can’t go in the tank until at least a week after painting is finished, so Nov. 23 is the earliest it can be filled.
Bad weather last winter delayed the work after it started about a year ago, Tierney said. The fact that the tower, one of the Water Authority’s three elevated tanks, is on a small plot of land in a residential neighborhood also made the job harder.
“Normally if it was in an open field somewhere, they’d be working seven days a week and it would’ve been done a lot sooner,” Tierney said.
Over the summer, some residents were concerned about paint chips falling off the tower that contained small amounts of lead.
Testing those chips caused more delays, Tierney said, but they were found not to be dangerous and didn’t affect the water supply.
Tanks like this one, on Second Avenue in New Hyde Park near the Long Island Rail Road tracks, require this kind of renovation about every 17 or 18 years, Tierney said. Tank 19 was leaking before the project began, he said, and had not seen a revamp since 1992.
“When I first started 34 years ago that cycle was more about 12 years at best, so the products have improved,” he said.
Crews will still have to clean up the site and other tests will have to be done, so Tierney said it’s uncertain when the tank will be fully operational again.
When it’s back online, he said, it will improve water pressure in New Hyde Park and part of Floral Park and make the area’s water supply more stable in emergency situations.
The repairs are part of the Water Authority’s five-year plan for renovations to its facilities.
The next tank in line for a restoration is five-million-gallon Tank 5, located on Hempstead Turnpike near Belmont Park. That project will be part of a larger one tying four Water Authority wells into two treatment facilities, Tierney said.
