Westchester struggles with its water infrastructure

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Updated: April 23, 2012 1:50AM

Westchester’s aging water infrastructure is in need of attention and the Village Board is working on a maintenance plan to address problems with old water valves and hydrants.

Village President Sam Pulia said the water system originated in 1938 in Westchester and most of the village’s hydrants were installed in 1927, along with the water valves.

There are three leaky hydrants in the village: including one at St. Joseph High School and one at 31st Street by McDonald’s. Pulia said there was another water main break Feb. 12.

“I’ve been in some discussions with the Public Works personnel about what the heck is going on and they basically indicated our maintenance has been woefully inadequate for a number of years, probably for a number of reasons,” Pulia said.

Pulia said the majority of the village’s hydrants are in great working shape but they haven’t been exercised, or flushed on a regular basis. As they are flushed, he said, the sediment that sticks to the valves and gets in the pipes will flush out as well.

The last time the hydrants were tested was about five years ago, according to Fire Chief James Adams. He said there were 15 points on the hydrant the Fire Department would check and then record every hydrant in the town.

When Trustee Nick Steker asked why the village doesn’t test the hydrants anymore, Pulia said he didn’t have a good answer for that. However, he said when the Fire Department used to flush them several hydrants broke. The cost to replace a hydrant is $3,000 to $3,500, Pulia said. To replace a 10-inch valve is about $1,500.

“I know by us, we do it annually,” said Steker, a firefighter in Franklin Park. “You have good hydrants in town; you have bad hydrants in town and I’d rather know before you get there for a fire rather than after. You can tell which ones have infiltration as well if you’re flowing nothing but dirt for the first five minutes, or there might be something going on with that pipe.”

Steker said he sees no reason why Westchester can’t annually test the hydrants. In Franklin Park, the Fire Department tests hydrants Monday through Thursday in the morning, so if there is a main break, Public Works can handle it before employees go home.

Pulia’s plan for the maintenance program is part of a larger plan of getting the village’s storm sewers jetted, or cleaned out. In 2009, Westchester jetted its sanitary sewer line and the goal is to start on storm sewers next.

“I want to segregate the town so to speak or to split it up in some fashion. I want storm sewers jetted, which have never been jetted,” Pulia said. “So I’d like to have those things going on to get into a maintenance program to say that we do this area for 2012 for sanitary and storm and maybe that’s the area we’ll target for valves and whatever.”