Attachments

Narrowsburg Water System Improvements Project Map, Plan, and Report

NARROWSBURG, NY — “People will not be happy when we get to tonight’s business agenda,” predicted supervisor Ben Johnson at the start of the July 14 Tusten Town Board meeting. If anyone would know, it’s Johnson. When he left office as the town’s supervisor in 2009, his number-one priority was the monumental task of repairing and updating Narrowsburg’s drinking water supply infrastructure. That project has been deferred ever since. “Eleven years later, it’s an emergency,” said Johnson, who is now serving another term as supervisor after taking office in January of this year.

A $100,000 water district study recently completed by Delaware Engineering indicates that the obsolete infrastructure is outdated, undersized, fails to meet safety requirements and is partially inoperable. The study’s conclusion recommends the immediate replacement of the system at an estimated cost of $7.5 million, at least some of which will come from the district’s 329 users.

“I know it has to be done,” said councilperson and Narrowsburg resident Jill Behling Padua, “but how much is this going to raise my water bill?”

Johnson said households that have been paying $150 per year, on average, could pay as much as $600 per year after completion of the project, an increase of 400 percent. In any case, the rate hike will not go into effect immediately; by law, there must be two-year intervals between rate increases, and Narrowsburg just had one.

“That will be tough for all, impossible for some,” said Narrowsburg resident Iris Holfeld. “I know it has to be done, but are we going to be able to foot the bill?”

Sixty percent of the project cost is hoped to come from a combination of grants and low-interest loans available through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) program, an agency designed to help secure financing for drinking water infrastructure projects needed to achieve or maintain compliance with Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requirements. A municipal bond may also fund part of the project.

Narrowsburg resident and business owner Colin Peters suggested Narrowsburg sell its water supply system to a private water management company, as Honesdale did some years ago. “Let the private company bear the brunt of replacement cost,” said Peters, who pays two water bills, one for his home and one for his place of business. Peters accused Johnson of being a disinterested party because he resides outside the Narrowsburg water district.

Johnson—whose business, Narrowsburg Motors, lies within water district limits—reminded Peters that he will be affected by the project and asked that everyone put emotion aside when asking questions and offering comments and suggestions about the proposed project. 

After asking if a committee would be appointed to oversee the development and execution of the project, Holfeld requested that water district users be included thereon, and volunteered herself as the first.

The meeting was recessed to 6:30 p.m. on July 23, at which time the board will consider the appointment of a bond council to be established in connection with water district improvement project funding.

Read the full report at www.bit.ly/nburgwater.