PAUL SMITHS — Paul Smith’s College has been awarded $1 million toward updating the water infrastructure which has been tainting the campus’ water brown with iron.

For years, the private college has struggled with discolored and cloudy water in its buildings and dorms. The water, which students have dubbed “Paul Smith’s Iced Tea,” is potable and safe to drink, according to the college — but few do drink it when it is so discolored.

Last summer, the college began the discovery phase of a project to replace its 78-year-old water lines, and PSC President Dan Kelting promised to move “aggressively and quickly” to replace the pipes and filtration systems.

Kelting said the total project cost is currently not known because part of these grant funds will be used for engineering studies, plans and estimating project costs. He said that final cost will be an output from the grant. The college is getting advisement from the Development Authority of the North Country in developing construction bid documents but it hasn’t contracted with any firms yet. He’s not exactly sure when construction will start.

After spring break last April, students said the dorm room water was “extremely brown,” had a “foul odor” and had what looked like a layer of grease and sediment on top of the water.

“We are seeing fewer instances of ‘brown water,'” Kelting said on Thursday.

Last year, the private college got $700,000 from the NBRC to put toward this project. Kelting said the college is providing matching funds through its operations budget, meaning it will be putting $1 million of its own money toward the project with this NBRC grant award.

The water issue

The college gets its water from wells, which comes out clean and clear. The problem starts when it hits the college’s aging water infrastructure. Some of the iron piping was installed when the college was established in 1946, Kelting said last year. As water runs through the pipes, iron flakes off.

Iron in drinking water is common around the U.S., and it is not considered dangerous to human health. The body needs iron to transport oxygen in the blood, and the body also does not easily absorb iron in water.

There are toxic levels of iron for humans, but those thresholds are “extremely high,” Kelting said last year, and it is improbable for anyone to drink enough that it would be unhealthy. The state Department of Health tests the water and determines its safety, and he said last spring that the unsafe level for iron in water is many orders of magnitude higher than what the college’s numbers show.

It is safe, but ugly, and stains tubs and clothes.

When the water runs brown, students said they still shower in it and boil it when they’re making pasta, but often resort to drinking bottled water.

It’s a minor cost, but at a college all about environmental sustainability, it’s seen by some students as counterproductive.

The grant

The grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission, backed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, is meant to support “essential wastewater infrastructure improvements on (PSC’s) rural campus.”

“This critical investment will help strengthen the institution that houses one of the country’s premier forestry programs,” reads the NBRC announcement.

“Climate change is one of the dominant forces shaping the rest of our lives, and Paul Smith’s is one of region’s and perhaps only institution of higher learning that is so uniquely positioned to offer an hands-on, experiential education to the next generation of young people interested in helping the environment and conserving natural resources,” PSC sociology professor Joe Henderson said in a statement.

Paul Smith’s is one of just two forestry schools in New York that offer degrees accredited by the Society of American Foresters.

“Receiving this award from the NBRC is a testament to Paul Smith’s College’s pivotal role in advancing sustainable practices and contributing to the vitality of the forest economy in New York State,” Kelting said in a statement. “This funding will empower us to enhance essential college infrastructure, reinforcing our commitment to both environmental stewardship and the growth of forestry-related industries in the region.”

PSC has also recently been awarded around $3 million in other grant funding — including grants from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Acer Access and Development Program and Rural Development; the National Science Foundation; the U.S. Department of Education; U.S. Department of Justice Violence Against Women; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the Environmental Protection Agency; the National Park Service’s Lake Champlain Basin Program; and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The NBRC recently approved more than $4 million in Forest Economy Program awards to six projects, and PSC got one quarter of that.

The goal of these awards is to support forest-based economies in the four-state NBRC region of Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.

Funding for the FEP comes from the congressional delegations from the NBRC’s four member states. The NBRC indicated it will soon open up another round of FEP funding for spring 2024.