The Cornwall-on-Hudson water department is replacing a leaky pressure reduction valve on Duncan Avenue this week. The ten-foot square valve chamber was delivered Thursday morning by the manufacturer, Ross Valve.
Water department employees detected the leaky valve last November and estimated that some 70,000 gallons of filtered water a day were being lost as a result. Water comes into the chamber with 100 pounds of pressure and the valve cuts that in half before it arrives at customers’ taps.
Water department superintendent Bob June said the new valve chamber will allow workers to access the pressure valve as needed. The old valve chamber was inaccessible due to safety concerns, June said.
The cost to manufacture the chamber and pressure valve to specifications was $35-39,000, according to June, who said it would have cost more to do the work internally.
June also noted that a pressure valve at the Chadeayne traffic circle is also leaking, although not as badly as the Duncan Avenue one, and will be replaced in the not-too-distant future.
