The DEP issued a press release yesterday touting a new $5.2 million computer system that will allow the agency to do more advanced data modeling of the reservoirs. The goal: better water quality, and less flooding. (Hopefully the two go together.)
When completed, the Operations Support Tool will enable DEP to divert or release water from its reservoirs at the best times to guarantee the highest quality water is delivered to New Yorkers and to protect downstream habitat.
The Daily Freeman has an item today about the new system, emphasizing its possible use in predicting and controlling flooding. Reservoir levels have been a hot issue in recent years, and state senator John Bonacic has pressed the DEP to keep reservoir levels low to prevent downstream flooding.
Editorial note: I'm a little confused by this sentence in the Freeman story:
[DEP deputy commissioner Paul] Rush said the goal of city officials has been to have reservoirs at 100 percent capacity on June 1 in anticipation of droughts but that they lacked effective measuring tools to honor a request from state Sen. John Bonacic to keep water levels as low as 75 percent.
So, the DEP wants to honor Bonacic's request, but it doesn't have the technical tools? Or are the tools a red herring, because the agency wants to see the reservoirs at full capacity regardless?
Either way, I suspect a comment left on the Freeman story hits the mark:
The correct level is a political, not a scientific choice.
