Downtown Armonk’s Water District seeks more water and more water storage, according to North Castle’s Director of Water and Sewer Operations, Sal Misti. Director Misti spoke with allaboutarmonk.com about North Castle’s Water District #4.
The Water District #4 includes customers in Whippoorwill Hills, Whippoorwill Ridge, Wampus Close, and downtown Armonk’s commercial accounts, a total of about 370 accounts. There are an additional 117 homes in Whippoorwill that are in Water District #5, which are supplied by Water District #4.
Water District #4 uses four existing wells. The two wells located in Armonk’s Community Park are in good shape. But because of the close proximity of these two wells, they can only be run efficiently one at a time. During peak usage periods, other sources of water are needed. Monthly water usage over the past three years, at peak times such as in July 2010, was recorded as 600,000 gallons per day. During the summer, irrigation systems put a strain on the water supply.
The two other District #4 wells are located on School Street. These original wells were built in 1991 by the US Environmental Protection Agency. One is in bedrock and the other is a gravel-packed well. They are located next to each other, but draw from two different aquifers. The gravel-packed well is developed with a screen in the bottom of a column with a pump inside packed with fine sand. The gravel filters the incoming water which develops into the water supply. The wells have a limited yield because they require treatment due to the presence of iron and magnesium in the water. The treatment limits the wells’ production to about 100 gallons of water per minute from both wells.
The underground water quality in the District’s property has been tested for possible future wells to increase the water supply to downtown Armonk. But building new wells for public water sources requires a significant amount of regulations and conditions for approval from Westchester County’s Health Department. Misti explained, “It is quite a task to get a municipal well approved, it takes years.”
There are two wells in the Whippoorwill Ridge area on Old Route 22 that were taken out of service about 12 years ago because of high iron content. These two will require some treatment, but could add about 45 gallons per minute. The hydrologists recommend bringing the Whippoorwill Ridge wells back online to add much needed water to the system. Months of work is required to fix them; a request for proposal is required for the necessary work to surge and clean the wells, change the filters, and check the pumps.
IBM built its own wells at Business Park field in 1960s. The IBM infrastructure was approved and then turned over to Water District #4 to become part of the distribution system. IBM donated the park property to the town’s water district and extended the water main infrastructure to Maple and Bedford Road. The main line was continued to Whippoorwill Ridge on Old Route 22, across Route 22 and up to IBM’s facility. Public water became available for the Old Route 22 area.
read more…