Village still eyes farm’s water as backup source
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. >> The village is proceeding with studies of the potential water yield of a Winston Farm well, though officials are not certain it will be available for use as a supplemental supply.
Village Water Superintendent Mike Hopf said the village does not know the status of a possible sale of the farm, which is at the junction of Routes 32 and 212, near the Thruway, and hosted the massive Woodstock ‘94 music festival a quarter-century ago.
In April, a real estate agent who was listing the farm for CBRE Properties at the time said there were two suitors interested in the site, which had an asking price of $5.5 million. The price since has come down to $4.75 million, and the site now is listed by Pyramid Brokerage Co.
The village is seeking an easement to use a well on the farm as a backup water supply. The transaction would be funded with money from the Governor’s Office for Storm Recovery, which says the village’s current system was at risk during Tropical Storms Irene and Lee in 2011.
Hopf said that there are periodic needs for a secondary source for the village when the Blue Mountain reservoir has high turbidity.
The village began conducting tests at Winston Farm in 2017 and found the well there produces about 288,000 gallons of water per day. The reservoir produces about 800,000 gallons per day.
“It’s going to add additional capacity to the system and act as a supplemental source,” Hopf said of the Winston Farm well. “It won’t act as a sole source — we still need the reservoir — but this will provide us with additional flow.”
Hopf said archaeological reviews cleared the property for use as a water source, though a few items were found that might have been left behind at Woodstock ‘94.
“Based on the results of the survey they are good to go,” Hopf said. “Not much was found. There was a flip-flop or two from Woodstock, maybe some plastic, but other than that, everything came back fine.”