Adam Bosch at the Times Herald-Record had a thoughtful article on Sunday about what will happen to local municipalities when New York City shuts down part of the Delaware Aqueduct for a whole year in 2018.
While most towns in the Catskills don't drink from the enomous NYC water supply system that occupies much of the land that surrounds them, municipalities along the Delaware Aqueduct like the Orange County towns of Newburgh, Marlborough, New Windsor have been drinking from aqueduct water for decades. Having the whole thing dry up for a year during the next decade will be a big problem, Bosch writes:
Newburgh pulls up to 3.8 million gallons of daily drinking water from the city's Delaware Aqueduct to supply its homes and businesses. The aqueduct has often been Newburgh's lone source of water since it tapped the city's supply in the 1980s. But aqueduct water won't be available come 2018 ... [This will] create a dilemma for Newburgh, which does not have enough water without the aqueduct to supply its users.
The towns are scrambling for other water sources. The solutions range from tapping new water supplies to buying water from the City of Newburgh. That last option has got Newburgh's city officials seeing dollar signs:
"With all the City of Newburgh's problems, the one thing it has in its favor is an excellent water supply," City of Newburgh Manager Richard Herbek said. "That needs to be viewed as a potential revenue source for the city."
Whatever happens, it's going to be an expensive headache for the towns that have been relying on the city's water supply, Bosch concludes:
Booth and Green agree that weaning themselves off New York City water would be the best practical and fiscal policy for the future.
That's why water-sharing negotiations here along the Hudson River might be guided by one principle:
"New York City water isn't cheap," Booth said.
Everyone in the Catskills, as well as everyone at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, would probably agree.
12/10/10 update: DEP spokesman Farrell Sklerov writes us with some thoughts about the expense of NYC's drinking water:
Just a clarification as it relates to your story (link above) which claimed (partly from Bosch’s story and partly your own addition - “"New York City water isn't cheap," Booth said. Everyone in the Catskills, as well as everyone at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, would probably agree.”:
The entitlement rate for upstate is currently $1.15 per thousand gallons. As a point of comparison, the City of Newburgh charges $3.97 for their water. Now, our charge does not include the costs for treatment and distribution, which Newburgh’s rate does, but it certainly does not appear that our water is “expensive” when you look at one of the nearby alternatives.
