City installing new water mains in Dyker Heights

Residents in Dyker Heights will be living with interruptions in water service and a loss of on-street parking spaces over the next few months now that the city has started a major water main replacement project in the neighborhood.

The Department of Design and Construction will be installing new 8-inch and 12-inch water mains in the area bounded by 10th Avenue and 12th Avenue, from 76th Street to 80th Street, according to a newsletter sent out by Community Board 10.

Preliminary work on the DDC project began on April 16.

“It really needs to be done. Our infrastructure is aging and old,” Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann told this newspaper.

As the project moves along, Dyker Heights residents will feel the pinch. “There will be intermittent water turn-offs with notification to affected homes. There will also be the relocation of certain fire hydrants in the project area,” the Board 10 newsletter read.

Residents can also expect a temporary loss of parking spaces on the street as the project moves forward, according to Board 10 officials, who said parking restrictions will be posted in advance.

Fran Vella-Marrone, president of the Dyker Heights Civic Association, called the project “a big inconvenience,” but said residents are willing to endure the hardship because the work is necessary.

“There have been issues with our water mains in the past. They’re very old and they probably need to be replaced,” Vella-Marrone said.

Beckmann said the board has received complaints in the past from residents of 80th Street about low water pressure in their homes, a problem she attributes to aging water pipes.

Meanwhile, another water main replacement project taking place within the confines of Board 10 is near completion.

DDC is installing new water mains in Bay Ridge in an area that includes Shore Road and Colonial Road from 89th Street to 91st Street; 89th Street from Colonial Road to Shore Road; and Narrows Avenue from 89th Street to Shore Road.

“That project is about 90 percent complete,” Beckmann said.

The Bay Ridge work was part of a larger, multi-million dollar project in which DDC is replacing water mains in several Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Sheepshead Bay, Bushwick, Bensonhurst, Williamsburg, East New York, Sunset Park, Kensington and Borough Park.

DDC officials did not return messages from this newspaper.