River panel questions water withdrawal

By DAVID HULSE

NARROWSBURG, NY — With the Kiryas Joel Environment Impact Study (EIS) for a proposed water tap from the Catskill Aqueduct ready for approval, Upper Delaware Council (UDC) officials are worried that no one is listening to their concerns about the impact of new withdrawals on the Delaware River watershed.

Shohola delegate Bruce Selneck warned that Kiryas Joel would open the door to a much larger plan to supply a growing water-starved population in Orange County. “I’ve seen the plan for an Orange County water cooperative,” which he described as a pipeline loop serving the county’s growing communities.

If that happens, Selneck said, New York City may need to reach its full allotment of the 800 million gallon daily withdrawal level they are now allowed in the Delaware watershed. City withdrawals currently are about 650 million gallons per day.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman Bill Runge said he anticipates that DEC will comment further on the completed EIS, but added that he did not want to imply that agency approvals would provide a “significant hurdle” for the project.

The UDC has repeatedly recommended that New York City supplement its water needs with water from the Hudson River watershed, which includes Kiryas Joel and most of eastern Orange County.

“Up here we think of droughts as water emergencies. No one has ever turned on the tap and found it dry. But if you look at 15,000 people [proposed new residents served by the new tap] without other water, that’s a water emergency for them,” Selneck said. “Once the water goes out of the watershed, it doesn’t come back,” he added.