It's a scenario we've experienced many times in Sleepy Hollow -- first comes the disturbing brownish water from the tap, then the notice from Village Hall about conserving, and even boiling, our water. 

This weekend residents received notice to let their water run for a while at the tap if it came out discolored, and then to conserve. The water conservation alert has just been lifted this morning and the brown water should now be clear.

Late Saturday night/early Sunday morning, a water main broke. Our usual water supply from the Catskill Aqueduct had been shut down for extended time for repairs by New York City. The city cuts our supply fairly often, especially after a storm, when the turpidity rate is deemed too high -- that is, the particles kicked up are too dangerous to drink. When this happens, switching to the Croton Aqueduct is our temporary solution.

All was going well this time, said Village Administrator Anthony Giaccio, until one of the valves burst at the pump station. While crews were busy fixing the valve and our supply lines were down, regular usage depleted our reservoir. Dipping low into the bottom of the tank results in that brown water -- water which looks worse than it is. 

Giaccio wanted to assure the citizens that there is no health risk in the brown water -- it comes only from sediments at the bottom of a low tank. "The water is safe. We wouldn't be able to deliver water to residents if it wasn't. This is closely monitored by the Health Department."

Though this water main break is unrelated to our ongoing water shortage issue stemming from our low-capacity tank, the situation would have been resolved faster, said Giaccio, "if we had a quicker alternative. This could have happened if we had a great supply or not, but if we had a larger tank we wouldn't have had the brown water."

The tank in question has been a matter of debate for years now, as the Board has been investigating its options in replacing it with a bigger one. The 80+ year-old tank we are using is in dire need of replacement, with a woefully inadequate storage capacity of 800,000 gallons of water. A new tank would contain 2.4 million gallons, a 24-hour supply. 

There will be a public debate on the matter on Tuesday, January 17 at 7 p.m. at Village Hall. Five proposals are up for discussion, ranging from topping off the current tank with a new one to burying it, or staring over at a new site at either Phelps, Kykuit, or Rockefeller Preserve. The proposals range in price tags from an estimated $2.329 for building a new tank on site to $5.1 million for excavation at the current site. Giaccio couldn't predict which option would win, though the expert consultant at the last Board Meeting seemed to deem the most expensive option the most likely.

First comes the hearing, said Giaccio, then we identify a location, then the facility needs to be designed. The money to build it would have to come from loans and grants. 

Giaccio hopes for a tight timeline from there. By the end of the year, he anticipates work would get started, to be complete in one year. 

When asked why Tarrytown, who gets water from the same sources we do, doesn't have these shortage/brown water issues, Giaccio said, "they have a bigger tank."