08/31/2025
It’s been no secret to West Seneca residents on Transit Road that their water pressure has been sorely lacking.
But recently, it’s gotten even worse — and several of them turned up at Monday’s town board meeting to voice their frustrations.
“We moved in about seven or eight years ago, and even then the water pressure wasn’t great,” said resident Tony Orzel, who added that he recently purchased a new refrigerator but his house doesn’t have enough water pressure to run the ice maker. “Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve measured our water pressure and it’s been between 15 and 21 PSI [pounds per square inch] and it should be at least 40. This is totally unacceptable.”
That stretch of residences gets its water directly from the Erie County Water Authority’s main transmission line, which is generally operated at low pressure.
Exacerbating the problem, a recent New York State Department of Transportation project recently replaced and upsized that main line from 6 inches to 8 inches, which increased the volume but further diluted the pressure. So now the pressure in the pipe leading down Transit is about 20 pounds PSI and significantly lower by the time it branches off to individual houses. It should be about 50 pounds PSI.
Erie County has been explicit in saying that it’s not their responsibility as the Town of West Seneca Water District is responsible for providing adequate service pressures.
“We understand that there are many complications and factors and several parties involved with this low water pressure problem and we’re hopeful that a permanent resolution can be implemented at no cost to us residents,” said resident Kelly Bebak. “We had nothing to do with causing the low water pressure problem and we should not have to bear any of the costs to rectify the situation.”
The situation is more than just an inconvenience — it’s flat-out dangerous, said James Twist, a lifetime member of the East Seneca Volunteer Fire Company.
Twist and some of his compatriots performed a fire hydrant flow test Monday morning on Transit Road, from Seneca Street to the Transit Road bridge. They were looking for perhaps a half-closed valve or some kind of blockage, but found none.
“There’s plenty of water volume — when we got to the end of the line, we did a static pressure test and that’s when we found, to my surprise, that there was only 20 pounds of pressure on the line when you’re not even using anything,” Twist said. “When we opened up one fire hydrant hose connection, the pressure dropped to zero. So all there was is just one fire hose of protection. We backtracked to try and find if it’s better or worse someplace else. At Seneca and Transit, there’s an older fire hydrant that had 30 pounds. With one hose, dropped to five pounds. That’s not acceptable.”
Supervisor Gary Dickson said he’s gone to the county for assistance but it has been little help in the matter.
“The Erie County Water Authority doesn’t believe us,” Dickson said. “They say the water pressure has never been better. So it’s clear they’re not going to be part of the solution.”
Town Engineer Jason Foote was ready with options.
Among those considered were: Adding a local master booster pump station, which would require significant maintenance and electrical costs; connecting to the Leydecker zone, which would require crossing Cazenovia Creek; provide individual booster pumps, which would be a short-term solution at best; and transfer over to a much higher pressure source in Elma on the other side of Transit Road, which was deemed the best option.
Elma pulls its water from the transmission main just as West Seneca does, but they already have a pump station in place — so the entire town is already on a much higher pressure zone, like 70 or 80 PSI.
The procedure would involve disconnecting West Seneca’s Transit Road pipe from the ECWA transmission main, running about 100 feet of new pipe under Transit Road and then connecting with Elma’s line.
West Seneca’s water costs would then be deducted from Elma’s totals.
“The solution is pretty straightforward,” Foote said. “It’s not a very big project and the physical work is pretty simple. Elma has been great to work with and they’re agreeable to move forward.”
The cost of the project is roughly $100,000 to $200,000 and could be funded through the town’s Water Overlay District with a cost increase of about $1.50 per residential connection over the next 30 years, Foote said.
The next step, Foote said, would be for the town board to send a formal letter to the ECWA to request initiation of the transfer — which the town board approved immediately.
Foote is optimistic that the project can be completed by the end of this year.
Twist said that the plan is a good one.
“I was impressed,” he said. “I thought (Foote) did a good job with this. He looked at a lot of different options and picked the best one.”
