Williston Park’s new water tower is expected to go online on June 1, Village Mayor Paul Ehrbar said in a village newsletter, as the contractor continues to implement final tweaks on the structure.
The $7.34 million tower, which was erected in April by contractor Landmark Structures, replaced the aging 90-year-old water tower on Syracuse Street. Like the old tower, it stands 180 feet tall and holds up to 500,000 gallons of water.
Ehrbar said that welding and clean-up are currently taking place ahead of painting the tower. The board of health will then conduct tests, after which the tank will officially begin operating and there will be final clean ups and repaving.
“The water tower project has been moving along quite well,” Ehrbar wrote. “The engineers, along with the contractor, as well as subcontractors, continue to stress that this project is on schedule for the new tower to be online as of June 1, 2019.”
Paired with the creation of a new water tower were upgrades to the water system, including the ground level tank on Williams Street and to the electrical system. An upgraded water tower with new technology was the missing piece, Ehrbar previously said.
D&B Engineers and Architects Senior Vice President Bill Merklin, the village’s engineer, has said a new tower could stand for a century with proper maintenance. Maintenance costs would also be significantly lower over time, he previously said.
Water rate increases for Williston Park and East Williston, which buys water from the former, are helping pay for the new tower.
Williston Park trustees voted in December to increase their rates from $3.92 per thousand gallons to $5.14 per 1,000 gallons, a difference of 31 percent. A month later, East Williston trustees approved raising the rate from $5.47 per 1,000 gallons to $6.79 for the same amount – a difference of almost 24 percent.
Williston Park, in conjunction with D&B Engineers and Architects, had entered into an agreement with the Village of Mineola to prevent water service disruptions. The agreement is slated to end this month.
