NYC to outline backup water supply plans

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection will hold four public information sessions in October about how upstate communities connected to the city’s water system will deal with shutdowns over the next four years amid repairs to the Catskill and Delaware aqueducts.

The sessions, each starting at 7 p.m., will be are scheduled for:

• Oct. 20 in the Ellenville Government Center, 2 Elting Court.

• Oct. 24 in Yorktown Town Hall, 363 Underhill Ave., Yorktown Heights.

• Oct. 25 in the Newburgh Town Hal, 1496 state Route 300.

• Oct. 28 in the Paul Grossinger Dining Room at SUNY Sullivan, 112 College Road, Loch Sheldrake.

The city environmental department is planning 10- to 14-day shutdowns for 2017 and 10-week shutdowns each of the following three years. The shutdown in 2020 was added to give contractors more time to prepare for the work.

Department of Environmental Protection Adam Bosch said there are about 70 upstate communities that use the Catskill and Delaware aqueducts as either a primary or secondary water sources. The city has promised to provide funding for alternative water sources during the shutdowns for the town and village of New Paltz, the High Falls Water District, the town and city of Newburgh and the town of New Windsor and Marlborough.

New Paltz officials have estimated it will cost about $2.4 million to develop a new water district and supply in the area of Plains Road to make up for the loss of city water. An alternate water supply is needed because the village reservoir off Mountain Rest Road is unable to fully supply the 7,000 village customers and 300 town customers.

Bosch said the city will truck water into the High Falls Water District, which is in the towns of Marbletown and Rosendale, but cost information was not immediately available.

“They have a very small daily water demand ... something like around 30,000 gallons, and we’re working on a plan to truck drinking water in for them,” Bosch said.

New Windsor has been budgeted for up to $12 million for connection to other systems and a well field.

“They are going to build a larger well field than New Paltz, and they are going to build an interconnection to the town of Newburgh because down there, New Windsor is on the Catskill Aqueduct and Newburgh is on the Delaware Aqueduct,” Bosch said. “So when one is shut down, they cannot only rely on their backup supply. But through the interconnection, [they can] potentially get some water from the other aqueduct that is still on.”

The four public information sessions will include reviews of the type of work that will be done on the 100-year-old system, which has been found to be leaking in several locations.

“People will be able to learn how they’re going to clean out the biofilm from the aqueduct, the valves that we have to replace ... [and] we’re going to talk a little bit about how the system will operate differently during the Delaware Aqueduct shutdown,” Bosch said.