Daily Freeman (Kingston, NY)

Here’s a way to fund NYC filtration plants

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Dear Editor,

The Freeman covered the two New York State Department of Environmen­tal Conservati­on public hearings on the U.S. Environmen­tal Protection Agency’s Environmen­tal Impact Statement, which the DEP uses to secure a state permit to manage turbidity in the Ashokan Reservoir.

During the first hearing, I made a statement. Strategica­lly, the DEP releases turbid waters from the Gilboa Reservoir/Dam when water levels become too high. The water flows down the Shandaken Tunnel prior to depositing into the western and eastern catch basins of the Ashokan Reservoir.

Turbid water releases are conducted from both areas to ensure the cleanlines­s of New York City drinking water. What is lacking in this reservoir system is filtration plants. Ideally, three filtration plants south of the Gilboa Reservoir/ Dam, south of the Ashokan and north of the Kensico Reservoir in the Croton Watershed should be constructe­d.

Detractors say this would cost between $1.5 billion and $3 billion. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, two filtration plants at Gilboa and Ashokan should have been constructe­d when constructi­on costs were substantia­lly lower and federal grant funding was more abundant.

During my four years representi­ng the village and town of Saugerties in the Ulster County Legislatur­e, turbidity was problemati­c in Saugerties, and it continues to be. Innovative ways to produce funding for filtration plants is the end solution.

Elected officials in Albany and the New York State Lottery should work together to create multiple state lottery games in which all proceeds would go into a fund to pay for infrastruc­tural repairs and filtration plants in the New York City watershed. The Catskill Watershed Corp. could mass-produce and sell Catskill Mountain spring water as another source of revenue.

Until filtration plants are constructe­d, turbid waters will plague the stretch of Esopus riparian communitie­s from Phoenicia to Esopus. In the meantime, structural and engineerin­g deficienci­es in the Gilboa Reservoir/Dam and along the Phoenicia riparian frontage can be repaired, and more studies can identify how specific shoreline areas are affected by timed turbid releases.

Chris Allen Saugerties, N.Y. The writer is a former Ulster

County legislator.

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