Bancker Construction has begun installing nearly 20,000 ft of new water mains in various parts of Port Washington on behalf of the Port Washington Water District.
The main purpose of this project is to remove some undersized mains and replace them with larger mains to meet Port Washington’s current capacity and needs. In addition, water district officials said old fire hydrants would be replaced with new ones.
“Many years ago, they used to run a lot of four-inch mains, which was adequate at that point in time. With population growth, we need to go to larger mains for current capacity and fire protection,” said Paul Prignano, Port Washington Water District superintendent.
The four-inch mains are being replaced with eight-inch mains. Any fire hydrant along the route of the main will be replaced with a new hydrant.
“Going to the larger main gives extra capacity for water flow in the hydrants,” Prignano said.
Construction will be done in two sections of Port Washington: one area in the Village of Port Washington North and the other in the North Hempstead section.
“The Village of Port North is getting approximately 6,800 feet of new main, and the North Hempstead parts will be an additional 12,500 feet of main,” said Prignano.
Port Washington North’s water main construction began during the first week of August. The construction impacts Cow Neck Road from Shore Road to Barker’s Point Road, including Port Drive and Bay Drive.
In a newsletter to the community, the Village of Port Washington North said the construction is expected to take about three weeks to complete. Then, the construction will begin on Fishermans Drive, Boat Lane, Seaview Lane and Dock Lane.
Once the water mains are installed in Port North, the construction moves to the North Hempstead areas.
Prigano said impacted roads include Park Avenue, Highland Avenue, and Fairview Avenue, as well as some roads off Main Street, such as Covert Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Monroe Street, and Jackson Street.
“Some of the areas for main replacement are very long, and some are as little as 500 feet,” said Prignano.
“There’s not going to be any real disruption to residents besides the fact that there will be construction work done on roadways,” Prignano said. “They may be down to one lane of traffic, but there’ll be flagmen out there directing traffic in either direction. But everything will be open for emergency vehicles. So there will be no disruption there.”
Bancker Construction’s team has notified residents in impacted areas of the construction plan and provided them with a contact number if they experience any issues.
“They’ve knocked on doors and worked things out with the residents,” Prignano said. “They’ve placed their equipment in spots where it wouldn’t be directly in front of the houses; instead, it’s across the street or on the corner.”
In addition, water services aren’t disrupted while the mains are installed.
“The old mains will stay in service, then the new mains will be tested,” Prignano said.
Pressure tests will be carried out to ensure there are no leaks. Then, the mains will be disinfected, and water samples will be sent to an independent lab for testing. The results will be sent to the health department, giving the water district the go-ahead to place the main in service.
“The contractor can then come back and start moving services from the old mains to the new ones,” Prignano said. “Each resident whose service needs to be moved over to the new main will experience an hour or so of water disruption.”
Bancker Construction will notify residents when a disruption due to the water main switching occurs.
Prignano said they hope to have the construction done by the end of the year, weather permitting.
The project is being bonded, and Prignano expects the project to save money on the back end.
“We have a lot of leaks, and over time, we have had to fix those leaks because some of these pipes are over a hundred years old in the older sections of Port Washington,” Prignano said. “It’s a great infrastructure project.”
Questions concerning this project should be directed to Bancker Construction at 631-582-8880 (extension 403) for information.
