I own a home in Sullivan County, Town of Bethel, NY. We are experiencing extraordinary growth of high-density housing. This growth impacts all of us in the area in two ways.

1. The water table gets precipitously low toward the end of the summer. In Bethel, we are all on wells. Some are individual wells, while other wells might supply a community. 

In other towns, the water also comes from wells, with some support from the Neversink Reservoir. 

For the past two years, Sullivan County was under a drought watch for several months. My own well suffered from lower volume and poor-tasting water. Residents came to town board meetings reporting brown water and the inability to water their gardens due to lower pressure. People were purchasing water to drink as once delicious-tasting water became undrinkable.

A proposed development, located north of the town on Lee Cole Road, dug four separate wells to a depth of 610 feet. If they draw water first, what will be left for their neighbors? Wells are often dug off-season, so the potentially affected neighbor is not around to report any impact.

2. Town sewers are being overrun by additional sewer users. In the Town of Bethel, the latest proposed development on Horseshoe Lake Road is “only” 27 homes. The houses will have seven bedrooms and the developer claims usage of 20,000-plus gallons/day. The filed environmental assessment form indicates “additional water usage,” but does not specify anything more. Pools? Clubhouses? Who knows?

The construction itself involves 20 acres of a 69-acre parcel, located in a critical environmental area (CEA) where grass, plants and trees will be eliminated. Rain and snow will no longer replenish the water table, and an already stressed area will be stressed further. Much of that water will end up in the drainage ditches or the sewer system. Wetlands are part of this parcel.

If all of this water and more is used, the other end is increased sewage. The town claims the system can accommodate these extra homes, but I have not heard how that was calculated. Our system has had failures during heavy rains. We have “manhole covers” located within 10 feet of the waters of White Lake. Sewer pumps have failed, with excess sewage flowing into the lake.

Effluent from the Bethel Sewer plant flows into the White Lake Brook, which leads to Mountain Lake in Smallwood, a tributary of the West Branch of the Mongaup, and into the Delaware River. Mountain Lake had to be closed for swimming due to harmful algal blooms. I believe that bacteria has been traced back to the Bethel sewer plant.

Developments near Swan Lake have overwhelmed their sewer system. A multimillion dollar system will be built.

Applications for private “transportation corporations” or sewer plants are being approved. Effluent is planned for the Judson Brook or nearby wetlands. This leads to the White Lake Brook, compounding an already compromised stream. Sewer plants do not remove bacteria, viruses, microplastics or hormones. The Delaware River is supplying drinkable water downstream. Who is looking into the cumulative impact of all of these sewer systems?

3. Impact on the local lakes. When runoff increases, it takes the road oils and salts that don’t get to the sewer and end up in wetland areas, lakes and streams. How does that impact flora and fauna in those waterbodies?

This summer, we expect the Swan in Swan Lake (Kiryas Skver) to open. The Town of Bethel has hired a planner who predicts an extra 25,000-35,000 people in that development alone. (NYSDEC allows for 100-110 gallons of water per person). This will use over 2.5-3.5 million gallons of water per day! All of that water will have to be processed through a sewer system, producing effluent that will be dumped into a stream that is a tributary of the Delaware River.

The year-round population for Bethel is about 4,000. We are home to Bethel Woods, which brings tens of thousands to the area. Sullivan County is funding an aquifer study to try to understand the availability of water. In the meantime, development just keeps chugging along.

A massive development has been proposed for the Forestburgh/Monticello area.

Where will the water come from and where will the resultant sewage effluent go?

What is the impact on the water table? The Delaware River?

Increasing the number of people using water while reducing grass, plants and trees, which allows the replenishment of the water table, and increasing the amount of bacteria and viruses into the Delaware River basin waters, is a disaster in the making.

We need civil engineers to come to Sullivan County in order to help everyone understand the extent of the problem and come up with some kind of solution. No towns in our area have a response for a “water emergency,” so when we find ourselves without water, it will be a catastrophe that can’t be remediated.

Mary-Ellen Seitelman lives in White Lake, NY.