SKANEATELES - With one federal government deadline just around the corner and another less than two years away, the town and village of Skaneateles may be bidding farewell to their reservoirs.

An extensive report prepared by town engineer Doug Wickman, of C&S Engineers, recommends replacing the existing reservoirs with a single above-ground tank in order to address the U.S. government mandate that all water systems serving potable water from uncovered reservoirs be covered by April 1, 2009.

Another option would be to meet additional water treatment requirements.

The town must submit its plans to the Onondaga County Health Department by April 1, 2008, Wickman said.

“It's a good thing for water quality,” Wickman said at a recent town board meeting. “It's a good thing for water safety.”

The town currently uses two reservoirs, both located on village land at 34 East St. The aged 550,000-gallon reservoir owned by the village (the town leases it for $1) is in poor condition, with cracks in its concrete slab and a “heavy bloom of green algae” visible on the water surface during a site visit, according to the report.

The town-owned 176,000-gallon reservoir also has some cracking problems, the report states.

The reservoirs provide potable water storage for District No.1, which also supplies water to Hartlot in the town of Elbridge. C&S took into account the daily domestic and fire flow demands when making its recommendations.

The report states that meeting the additional treatment requirements would be “prohibitively expensive.”

Additionally, because of the age and location of the reservoirs, the cost of covering them would also be high. The report estimates that covering the town reservoir alone would run about $1.7 million, not including engineering and construction administration costs.

Therefore, the option that works best, the report states, is to replace the reservoirs with a single, above-ground tank, a project that would cost an estimated $556,000. The proposed glass-coated, bolted-steel tank would have a working capacity of 239,000 gallons and a total capacity of 350,000 gallons. It would be protected by a geodesic aluminum dome cover.

“I think that after reading this, this is probably our best option, and I agree with it,” said Bruce Famoly, town Water Department foreman and a member of the town's Reservoir Committee.

The board accepted the report and will now forward it on to the village. Town officials would like to meet with village representatives to discuss the proposed changes.

Wickman and Famoly will look into any grants that may be available for this type of project. Town budget officer Bridgett Winkelman said that as of now, the project would have to be bonded.

“We don't have the liquid assets available to pay for it,” Winkelman said.