Residents in Syracuse’s Meadowbrook neighborhood have the chance Thursday evening to learn more about a major water project being undertaken by the city. Water Commissioner Joe Awald says much of the work will involve the replacement of a pump station on Brookford Road that was built in the 1950s.
“This is not connected to our system, so we can't see how the pump station is running remotely," Awald said. "How much flow is coming out, pressure, are the switches on or off. Is somebody in the pump station, not in the pump station? All that information in our other facilities that are brand new gets remoted back to us so we see that at our at our shop.”
The Brookford pump station is about the size of a shed, but below mostly below grade. Awald says the new station will be brought above grade to improve worker safety, and closer to the street. It will also be built to blend in with the surrounding homes. About 750 homes are included in the project area, and Awald says some of them will receive water service upgrades.
“We've identified some of the services that need replacement because they were lead," Awald said. "So if we find a lead service, we're replacing it from the water main all the way into the house.”
Some water mains will also be replaced. Awald says the overall impact to the neighborhood will be relatively minor.
“Ninety of our project area is going to see very minimal impacts," Awald said. "The biggest impact is going to be right here at the pump station where all the work is going on and all the other service replacements will be much smaller of an impact. It'll be like a day maybe two days to replace the service and then our crews will be gone and off to the next one.”
Awald expects work to begin this month and continue into next summer. The Brookford Pump Station project is one of many Awald and his team are undertaking in an effort to upgrade the city's water system and replace lead service lines.
A public information meeting will be held Thursday evening from 6 to 7 p.m. at Nottingham High School.
