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Water System Will Be Upgraded

By:  Brian Meyer
News Staff Reporter

Buffalo’s aging water system will receive some upgrades now that the city has finalized a $24 million bond sale.

More than a third of the money will be used to install new pumps at the Colonel Ward Pumping Station, a project that officials predict will slash the system’s electric bills by $500,000 a year.

Other big-ticket items include the replacement of water mains throughout the city and upgrades at the system’s water filter plant.

City Comptroller Andrew A. SanFilippo announced the bond sale Thursday, adding that federal stimulus Build America Bonds will dramatically reduce Buffalo’s long-term borrowing costs. Under the program, the federal government subsidizes 35 percent of the interest rates paid by municipalities.

With the subsidy, Buffalo’s annual borrowing costs will range from 1.05 percent to 4.48 percent over 30 years.

This is a good time for the Buffalo Municipal Water Finance Authority to sell bonds, SanFilippo maintained.

“We are still experiencing historically low rates in the market,” he said. “Also, this lets us take advantage of Build America Bonds.”

The city’s water system has $167 million in outstanding debt. Given the fact that Buffalo has an older system that requires extensive work on an annual basis, the cumulative debt is “not out of line,” said Deputy Comptroller Darby R. Fishkin.

Some pipes that snake beneath the oldest neighborhoods in Buffalo are 150 years old. Ironically, many of these 1860s-era pipes are in remarkably good condition. They’re made of cast iron, so they last longer than some less-durable pipes.

News of the bond sale came in the same week that Veolia Water officially took the helm as operator of Buffalo’s water system.