Caldwell Water Projects Main Topic of Council Meeting

Two water capital projects may flow into Caldwell this year.

The borough’s Licensed Water Operator, William Frint, made a presentation on Caldwell’s water system at Tuesday night’s council meeting in which he recommended getting to work on two capital projects—a Brookside Avenue Interconnection Project and a Water System Main Replacement Project.

The Brookside Avenue Interconnection Project would entail linking West Caldwell’s Emergency Interconnection to Caldwell by creating a Brookside Avenue Interconnection. This would be accomplished by installing 250-feet of new water main on Brookside Avenue.

The cost of this project, Frint said, is $150,000 and would be split evenly between Caldwell and West Caldwell. The Caldwell Council approved capital funding for this project in 2010, according to Frint.

The second project, which has yet to be funded, involves replacing water mains under five roads in the Cedars neighborhood. Frint said replacing undersized and corroded mains would increase water supply to fire hydrants. He said Brookside Avenue, Gould Place and Knollwood Terrace are priorities for 2012. Cedars and Overlook roads are the other two roads in the program.

Frint said the water main replacements would “mirror” the borough’s plans to repair roads in the neighborhood.

Requests for Proposals for the design of the water main project had come in, but had not been reviewed , Frint said Tuesday. He estimated the cost of the project to be in the ballpark of $1 million.

Caldwell Mayor Ann Dassing asked Frint if any money for Brookside Terrace was available from the county since the road borders Essex County’s . Frint responded that he didn’t know, but it was worth looking into.

Dassing said at the conclusion of the presentation that these projects are overdue.

“I would like to get this done sooner than later,” she said.

Frint, who works part-time for the borough, also gave a general overview of Caldwell’s water supply, which is purchased from Essex Fells. He said the average demand is 750,000 gallons per day, which is delivered via 21 miles of pipe to more than 2,200 metered customers.

Pipe sizes in the borough range from 4- to 12-inch pipes, and some pipes in the system are more than 100 years old.