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Shovels before splash

Water district project will provide one water main from Silver Creek to Portland

OBSERVER Photo by Damian Sebouhian Area officials and dignitaries break ground on the North Chautauqua County Water District in the town of Dunkirk.

Five years after its inception and with $15 million obtained, the North Chautauqua County Water District officially broke ground Friday in front of Dunkirk Town Hall. More than 40 area officials, legislators, and business associates gathered to celebrate what Assemblyman Andy Goodell called “an incredible accomplishment.”

“It is indeed a historic moment for Chautauqua County when we have the north county working together on a common purpose to bring critical infrastructure to insure that our future is better,” Goodell exclaimed, ending his speech with an enthusiastic chant: “Bravo, bravo, bravo!”

The district will be responsible for purchasing water from the City of Dunkirk and then selling and distributing it to Brocton, the North County Industrial Water District, Sheridan, Pomfret, Dunkirk and Portland.

The district will also be responsible for the construction of approximately 12 miles of water main, resulting in a continuous water main from Silver Creek to the western town line of Portland.

Two new water storage tanks and a pump station will be constructed to supply water to Brocton, taking the place of the Brocton water treatment plant. The estimated date for completion is less than a year away, sometime during the summer of 2018.

“We have further to go to make this project benefit everyone in the region,” said Pomfret town supervisor and NCCWD chairman Don Steger. “This isn’t about the Town of Portland, the Town of Pomfret or the Town of Dunkirk or Sheridan; it’s about the region. We can’t survive without each other. We have to work together.”

Echoing the sentiment of cooperation between municipalities, County Executive Vince Horrigan, who was integral in putting the finishing touches on the project, said: “I firmly believe that the future of our county is about more relationships and collaboration and regional solutions and this is clearly the foundation to get those going. As we change, as counties change, as businesses and industries change, we have to change.

“I have to say, one of the proudest (accomplishments) as my time as county executive is the fact that we were able to come together, hear ourselves out and finally come together with a common solution.”

Diego Sirianni of Empire State Development read from a prepared statement in which he lauded the project for it’s potential to “support job creation and business investment with the intent to improve water quality and quantity,” Sirianni said. “This will provide an environment for development, reuse and investment by providing stable infrastructure that can lead to job creation and decrease unemployment and local poverty levels.

“The consolidation of these systems into a regional water system will address regional water quality and quantity inadequacies, provide better opportunities for economic development through reliable infrastructure, develop a growth quarter for the region, while preserving agricultural areas and promoting state smart growth principles.”

Horrigan congratulated Dunkirk Mayor Willie Rosas for following through with his challenging campaign promise of working to successfully create the district.

“There were many naysayers and the mayor said ‘we need to do this,’ Horrigan said. “And so that was the leadership the mayor staked his future on and the people responded.”

While Rosas admitted he campaigned for the water district project, he credited Horrigan as being “a true leader” who “stood up.”

“It was Vince Horrigan who was able to get all the municipalities together to make this happen,” Rosas said. “We look forward to being the sole supplier to the district and I can let you know now that we are in the last phase of completing our consent order project at our water filtration plant. When that is completed it will have cost us $23 million. We also have a project at our waste water treatment plant which is a $10.5 million upgrade project. So, we will be supplying top-of-the-line service to this district.

“I’m very proud as the mayor to be part of this.”

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