hydrant flushing..con ed tree removal

The Greenburgh Water Department will continue its maintenance program to operate and flush fire hydrants for the week beginning Monday, May 14, 2012 thru Friday, May 25, 2012. This action is necessary to make sure the fire hydrants are in good working order in case of emergencies and to help flush sediment out of the distribution system. The hydrant flushing and operating action will take place during the day from 9:30 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. Greenburgh Water District Customers in the neighborhoods listed and the immediate vicinity should expect temporary periods of discolored water and lowered pressure resulting from this maintenance operation. This discoloration consists primarily of harmless silt and air and does not affect the safety of the water. For further information, customers may contact the Greenburgh Water Department at 914-993-1592 or visit the Town website www.greenburghny.com. GREENVILE AREA - Entire Section. LONGVIEW SECTION, including roads near Longview Drive , Highland Road, Evandale Road, Fort Hill Road, Underhill Road, Juniper Road, Moorland Drive, Clayton Road, Hearthstone Circle, Scarsdale Farm Road, Clarendon Road, Mt. Joy Avenue, West Minister Road, Paradise Drive, Argyle Avenue, Dorchester Drive, Central Park Avenue and Ardsley Road. TANGLEWOOD SECTION, including roads near Sprain Valley Road, Fort Hill Road, Ardsley Road, High Point Road, Tanglewood Road, Andrea Lane Cherrywood Road, Forest Lane, Penny Lane, Jackson Avenue, Sunrise Lane, Fountain Lane & Central Park Avenue. EDGEMONT SECTION, , including roads near Old Army Road, Mount Joy Avenue, Ardsley road, Central Park Avenue White Oak lane, Aqueduct Drive, Edgemont Road, Bretton Road, Seely Place, Henry street, Robbin Hill Road, Lynwood Road, Sherwood Place & Walbrooke Road. COTSWOLD SECTION, including roads near Central Park Avenue, Ardsley Road, Cotswold Way Road, Overton road, Old Army Roaed, Medford Lane, Barford Lane, Wood ford road, Rutland Road, Campden Road, Chedworth Road, Kempster Road & Lynwood Road. PARTS OF CLUBWAY SECTION, including roads near Old Colony Road, Tamarack Trail, Brook Lane East & West, Highridge Road, Midvale Road & Club Way. PARTS OF MARION/HEALY SECTION, including roads near Healy Avenue, Marion Avenue, Thomas Street, Elizabeth Street, Meadow View Drive & Central Park Avenue. PARTS OF TOPLAND SECTION, including roads near Sunningdale Golf Club, Underhill Road, Sprain Road, Deer Hill Lane, Aqueduct Lane & Clover Close. Please be advised that flushing may cause water pressure variations and discoloration of water. This does not represent a health hazard. However, customers are cautioned to determine if the water is clear before washing clothes (or any other processing) as staining may occur. If you experience discoloration in your water after crews have been flushing in your neighborhood, clear the pipes in your home by running cold water faucets for a few minutes. The water is absolutely safe. However, to avoid any inconvenience, we suggest you monitor the water before doing any laundry and keep water in the refrigerator for drinking and cooking. Con Edison is planning tree work along a transmission line corridor which passes through the Town of Greenburgh and the Village of Elmsford. The Right of Way (ROW) is generally owned by New York City, and is managed by the City’s Department of Environmental Protection. The Company operates on this property under an agreement with the City. Please treat this communication as "sensitive" and limit its distribution, as it describes critical infrastructure Con Edison maintains a network of bulk-power transmission lines on the ROW which are critical to the region's electric supply. Con Edison typically operates these lines at 345,000 volts. At such extreme voltage, safe clearance between vegetation and conductors is critical to maintain system reliability and public safety, due in part to the electricity's ability to "jump" to things like tall trees growing or falling nearby. As you may recall, the massive Northeast blackout of 2003 was initiated by such an incident under a 345kV transmission line in Ohio. Since this event, there have been significant changes in the regulation of transmission line vegetation management practices. Con Edison's program follows industry-recognized "Best Management Practices" in bringing its lines into compliance. The project site within the Town is approximately 6 miles long, and is approximately 1 mile long in the Village. The section of line begins in the Town at Grasslands Road, and ends south of Jackson Ave. There are approximately 52 towers in this section of line in Greenburgh, and 9 in Elmsford. The ROW width varies, but is typically 150’. Any vegetation on our ROW which at maturity would have the potential to grow or fall close enough to the lines to cause a line outage is considered incompatible. We aim to do the following when performing our routine vegetation management: • Clearing of brush around tower bases to 20' from footings. • Removal of incompatible vegetation from the wire zone. The "wire zone" is the area directly under the wires. Since line height varies from span to span, the maximum allowable height of species in the wire zone will also vary. • Removal of incompatible vegetation from the border zone. The border zone is the area between the wire zone and the property line. When trees are to be removed from the border zone, debris may be "fly-chipped" on site, removed completely, or cut into smaller pieces and placed strategically on the ROW. • If trees are rooted on neighboring property, we may side-trim growth that extends over the property line. (We do not remove our neighbor’s trees without written permission to do so, and do not solicit this work unless it is deemed necessary for safety and reliability.) • Application of herbicide. This is done on an "as-needed" basis. Some tree species have the ability to "re-sprout" and/or "sucker" from the stump or root system. A small amount of herbicide may be applied in accordance with EPA, DEC and DEP requirements. All applications are made by State licensed applicators. • Notification. The Company’s contractor is required to notify all neighbors abutting the ROW before work begins. The notification materials are currently being hand delivered to every property that borders the ROW, as well as others in the immediate area. The Company estimates its contractor will begin herbicide work in late June, and tree trimming-type work in early July. Work will take approximately 2 months. Feel free to contact us with any questions. Daniel J. Lyons Public Affairs Manager