Flood victims fault NYC reservoir releases

NYC DEP says it’s not so simple!

By TOM KANE

DELAWARE RIVER VALLEY — Scott and Joann Haberli, owners of the Red Barn Campground in Hankins, NY, thought they were going to be okay after the storm hit.

By June 27, the rains had swamped the campground but all their buildings were intact. Then, they got a phone call from friends who were on a rescue team in Hancock, NY.

“They said that we shouldn’t get excited that we were through the worst, because the New York City reservoirs were beginning to release water,” Joann said. The reservoirs were at full capacity and needed to release water in response to the heavy rainfall.

Then a new wave of water came.

“We were now under three feet of water,” she said. “It ruined our barn and other buildings and came into our home. We don’t expect to stay in business after these three storms and these releases.”

Haberli said the city shouldn’t keep the reservoirs 100 percent full. “There’s plenty of water even if the reservoirs were at 40 percent,” she said. “If they kept it at 80 percent, they would still have enough water. We think they want to sell water to Orange County and that could be a reason for such high levels. We are beginning to think that the city wants us out of the Delaware River valley.”

Rick Lander has a similar opinion on the reservoir releases.

“The levels should not be at 100 percent but should be lower in anticipation of a storm,” he said. “The city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) should establish some kind of communication channels with local businesses about the levels and the adjustment to a storm. I just lost my July 4th weekend. I had to bring in 150 truckloads of dirt to the Skinners Falls campground. This was a 500-year flood and should have been handled differently by the DEP.”

The reaction was the same up and down the river.

“There should be a mechanism to anticipate these events,” said Bill Douglass, executive director of the Upper Delaware Council. “They should be looking for alternative ways to keep voids present before storms.”

Senator John Bonacic agreed.

“The reservoirs shouldn’t be filled to capacity,” Bonacic said. “They need to allow some room in the reservoirs in anticipation of storms.”

Bonacic also faulted the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for not allowing the streams to be dredged. “They’re too stringent in giving out permits for debris removal,” he said.

NYC responds

“First of all, New York City does not have control of releases downstream,” said Ian Michaels, spokesman for the DEP. “That is controlled by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DBBC). Releases have to be agreed upon by all the parties to the commission—New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New York City. The Delaware River Master determines releases according to that agreement.”

The reservoir’s primary function is to supply water to New York City, he said. “However, there are several other interests that have to be considered. Drinking water certainly, fishing habitats, other recreational uses like boating and tubing, as well as control of droughts. It’s important to have enough water in the reservoirs as a hedge.”

Michaels said DEP commissioner Emily Lloyd was looking at additional ways to ensure flood control, while balancing the interests of people downstream. “It’s a delicate balance,” he said.

Two flood-control programs are now being used in storing water. “The Pepacton and Neversink maintain a void in the winter to receive water from the melting snow,” he said. “If there is no snow, then we maintain voids equal to the amount of water that would run off with a one-inch rainfall during six hours. That’s the agreement.”

The commissioner is going to the DRBC for a third control program at a meeting soon, he said. He was not at liberty to divulge just what that program might be.

“There are a lot of rumors that are not true,” Michaels said. “People think that we release when we’re afraid the dams will break. This is not true.”

Michaels explained that if releases were done a few days before a storm, when the storm reaches cities downriver like Trenton, for example, they would be hit with a double whammy. “It takes time for the release to reach a place like Trenton. The release and the storm would arrive at the same time. We’re afraid to hurt downstream towns with releases when we hear a forecast,” he said. “Forecasts are uncertain. If we release and the storm doesn’t come, how are we going to recover that water?”

Reservoirs never cause a flood, he said. “Even if the reservoirs are at 100 percent, they attenuate the peaks of the storm.”

The DRBC’s response

“Over past years we’ve been trying to tweak the system in small ways to account for snow melt, for example,” said Robert Tudor, deputy executive director of DRBC. “Even if they are full, the reservoirs have a good effect on floods.”

Should the levels be less than 100 percent?

“That needs to be negotiated with the four states and New York City to make a decision,” Tudor said. The DRBC is the forum for making such adjustments, he said. “People think that you can anticipate a storm to good effect. Three days doesn’t make a big difference. Releases aren’t fast. They take time.”

Tudor said the DRBC is considering raising the sides of the reservoirs to make storage room for sudden floods. “New York City has agreed to allow it, but they want the state to share the cost. If they had more control of the water, they would be for a heightening. There’s a lot of interest in Congress to these kinds of things.”

The Army Corps of Engineers has set aside $4.5 million in competitive grants to do a project that would control storms, he said. “We won a grant of $1 million,” he said. “The corps will conduct a study to do things like putting in a dry dam like the Jadwin Dam above Honesdale, PA or other forms of flood mitigation, or have a buy-out program which would give homeowners in flood plains a motivation to move out. This would not be by eminent domain but would be optional. We’re definitely looking for innovative ways to control floods.”