BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

POTSDAM — After a bout of no-shows and missed appointments and now improperly done lead scans, village officials are still not happy with the firm subcontracted to conduct a lead survey of water lines supplying residences.

Village Administrator Isabelle Gates-Shult told village board members at their meeting Monday, Nov. 18 that ElectroScan, the subcontractor hired to do a federally required lead survey inventory, is still not living up to expectations.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is requiring municipalities to inventory all water service lines and identify sections containing lead. Sections containing lead can then be removed over the next decade as required by the EPA. The cost of the inspection in Potsdam is 100 percent covered thanks to a million dollar grant received by the village. There is no cost to residents.

ElectroScan was hired by North Country engineering firm Barton & Loguidice, the lead contractor on the survey project to conduct the initial phase of onsite inspections at village residences of their water supply lines from the village water mains, looking for lead. The firm is one of the only companies available that uses an electrolysis process to determine if lead is found in underground water lines, sidestepping the traditional process of digging up the lines to visually inspect the pipe. 

However, residents and village officials have complained about no-shows, lack of communication and other issues since ElectroScan began the process several weeks ago. 

Gates-Shult gave the board a run-down on where the project stands at the moment, reporting to village board members that the initial inventory for the survey project was completed on Oct. 16. But, she said the numbers of the scan inspections that were to have been done by ElectroScan were not where they were expected. 

She said about 1200 residences have received letters notifying them that the lateral water lines to these buildings are still listed as unknown because testing has not been completed at these sites. 

“By now most village residences should have received one of two letters. One of the letters went out to 1200 property owners. This letter went to any property that we have not confirmed any portion of the lateral and the lateral must by (federal) rule be identified as unknown until testing takes place,” she said. 

About 180 letters went out to village residents to notify them that their lateral service lines were non-lead, this either verified by ElectroScan’s site survey, through village records or from verification from the residents themselves, the administrator said. 

“And in many of these cases ElectroScan could not or did not progress the scan far enough to reach the public side of the lateral,” Gates-Shult said. “So without village records the public side of the lateral must be identified as unknown until it can be retested.” 

The administrator said she knows there will be many questions from residents regarding the follow up testing and urges village residents to reach out directly to the village offices which are in contact with Barton & Loguidice on the project’s progression. 

“Are we to assume that ElectroScan lied to the customers?” asked Village Deputy Mayor Steve Warr. 

“I don’t know if we can assume that ElectroScan lied, but I think what happened is they weren’t testing correctly. So the folks that were hired were local I believe. When they went in to do the testing they did not go far enough. So they didn’t reach the other end of the lateral. They were only going in about 15 feet, and I think they needed to go further from what Barton and Loguidice told us,” Gates-Shult said.

“Who does that fall on? I would say ElectroScan,” Gates-Shult said. 

“I think it's no secret that we have certainly had some issues with ElectroScan and I think that a lot of us have been less than impressed with the services we have received so far,” Gates-Shult said. 

“I think we’ve given them several opportunities to correct their actions and to rectify the multitude of issues we have experienced and unfortunately I don’t feel that that is happening,” the administrator told board members. 

However, Gates-Shult suggested that the village continue with the project with the current contractors until an alternative could be found. 

“Right now there is a freeze on payment, we are not giving any money to ElectroScan,” Gates-Shult said. “That being said, the laterals that are being tested right now, that were not tested the right way, until we find an alternative solution it's my strong suggestion we utilize the resource we do have, not lose any money, and try to rectify the issues we are experiencing, which are the laterals not being tested correctly,” the administrator said. 

She said there are still 1200 properties that still need to be tested. 

Gates-Shult said the village is in direct contact with Barton & Loguidice every other day on the issue. Unfortunately, she said ElectroScan is the only firm currently which offers the more non-invasive electrolysis scanning process and the village would be looking at the more traditional digging option to survey the lines if the contract with the company ends.