The Water Department
From Aquafacts, Spring 1999
The Official Publication of New York Rural Water Association
St. Johnsville Project Offers the Best Solution to the SWTR
By Doug Smorol, Circuit Rider, 2, NYRWA

The Filtration Plant is visible in the upper left.

It is not too often in my travels across the great State of New York that I come across a Water project that leaves such a strong impression with me that I am compelled to write my magazine article about it. But after a recent visit to the Village of St. Johnsville's new Slow Sand Filter Plant, I was left with a renewed faith in the ability of Professional Engineers to deliver sound engineering principles at a reasonable cost.

Like many small villages, the Village of St. Johnsville was confronted with the problem of complying with the Surface Water Treatment Rule (SWTR). The Congdon Springs that had supplied the village with drinking water for over one hundred years and is classified as a Surface Water Source, would now have to be filtered. The original project called for the construction of a $1.8 million Water Filtration Plant, funding sources were found and approved, but before construction could begin village Officials halted the project and decided to develop a Groundwater source. Engineering for the Well field Project and also the subsequent scaled down Slow Sand Filter was provided by John McDonald Eng., PC of Schenectady, NY. Funding for the $1.8 million project was provided through a grant loan package from the Economic Development Authority and the State Drinking Water SRF.

After completion of the well field it was decided that the remainder of the funding could be utilized to build a scaled down Slow Sand Filtration Plant to utilize the excellent water resource of the Congdon springs. The engineer quickly came up with a design and site location that would allow the system to function by gravity alone, making the Slow Sand Filter Plant very economical to operate and maintain.

Construction began in June of 1998 and the Filters went online in December of 1998. The Village of St. Johnsville was very pleased with the quality of work and the effort to maintain a tight construction schedule by the General Contractor, Delaney construction Corp. of Mayfield, NY. The Filter Plant is currently producing about 300,000 gallons per day of crystal clear drinking water for the residents of St. Johnsville. On the day I visited the facility the turbidity at the influent side were at 0.3 NTU with the finished water at an impressive .0304 NTU.

The system is designed to be self balancing with the well system, so that on days of peak demand from the Village, should the spring source lag behind and the level of the reservoir drops, the well pumps come on automatically and return the reservoir to optimum operating levels. Each source is capable of operating independently of each other and each is capable of supplying the needs of the Village making this system very attractive to the local NYSDOH. The spring source is disinfected with chlorine gas at the reservoir and the well supply is disinfected with Sodium Hypochlorite solution at the wellhouse.

It was very refreshing to see a project such as the one completed at the St. Johnsville Waterworks, the simplicity of design and attractive exteriors combined with the relatively low cost is a splendid example of how we should be designing and building water plants her in New York State. Over the years I have observed the construction of many facilities where the Engineers placed aesthetics ahead of function and cost overruns and construction delays were common place.

Hats off to John McDonald Eng., P. C. of Schenectady, NY. and the Village of St. Johnsville for a job well done!

Note: The new Filtration Plant was named for Past Mayor Wilfred Kraft. Back to the Water Page.

Back to the Village of St. Johnsville Page

01 24 2004