Delaware board supports revised agreement

Vicky Klukkert, The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y.
·3 min read

Jan. 25—Less land acquisition and more local stewardship are part of the new revised Filtration Avoidance Determination issued by the state Department of Health in December.

The Delaware County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution during its Jan. 25, meeting, supporting the revised plan issued by the state DOH after the Coalition of Watershed Towns approved a similar resolution during its Jan. 16, meeting.

Drinking water is supplied to 8.5 million residents of New York City and 1 million residents north of New York City through a system of reservoirs and tunnels located upstate. There are two reservoirs in Delaware County — the Cannonsville, which collects water from the west branch of the Delaware River, and the Pepacton, which collects water from the east branch of the Delaware River.

In order to avoid building a filtration plant, which the federal Environmental Protection Agency would otherwise require, the city, state and municipalities in the city's watershed signed a memorandum of agreement in 1997. The agreement limited what development could be done in the city's watershed, allowed the city to purchase land in the watershed to protect its drinking water and established watershed protection and partnership programs. The land acquisition program has been criticized by municipalities located in the watershed. The FAD is updated every 10 years and has a mid-term review every five years.

"There's a lot of stuff in this packet. I didn't have time to read it," Hamden Town Supervisor Wayne Marshfield said before voting, and asked for more information.

Andes Town Supervisor Wayland Gladstone, who is a member of the Coalition of Watershed Towns said the resolution is "basically saying we support the revised FAD. It includes more CREP [Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program] programs that allows more private ownership, rather than the city buying up land along stream banks."

The state Department of Health released for comment a draft Revised Filtration Avoidance Determination as part of the mid-term review last spring, the resolution said. Several West of Hudson Communities, including Delaware and Schoharie counties, and the towns of Conesville, Gilboa, Prattsville, Roxbury, Middletown, Andes, Bovina, Stamford, Kortright, Tompkins, Harpersfield, Walton and Delhi submitted comments or board resolutions to the DOH that discussed their concerns.

The concerns included: the need to end the land acquisition program, the need to revise the Streamside Acquisition Program, support for a community-based streamside protection program in which landowners are compensated for stewardship and assure greater compliance by New York City with its MOA obligations.

According to the resolution, the state DOH "agrees that changes to core LAP are necessary in the West of Hudson Watershed, as guided by the recommendations of the NASEM expert panel."

In 2020, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine conducted a study of the watershed protection program and determined the land acquisition program had matured and was not cost effective, the CWT resolution said.

The NASEM recommended, and local stakeholders requested, the land acquisition program be reduced. The state DOH agreed and lowered it to 200,000 acres through 2024, the resolution said.

According to the resolution, the Department of Health also said the Stream Acquisition Program needed some work and "the Revised 2017 FAD includes a requirement for a dedicated SAP workgroup and a specific reporting requirement on the workgroup's recommendations.

The resolution also said the DOH supported expanding the CREP program and that "existing conservation easement language may need to be revised in light of some recent conflicts with public benefit projects."

Roxbury Town Supervisor Alan Hinkley said he agreed the Streamside Acquisition Program needed some work, especially since as it's written, it says no utility line can go through city-owned properties owned along streams.

"It's best not to let the city own our streambanks," Gladstone said. "They have a lack of stewardship, whereas private owners and farmers take care of their property."

Board members unanimously approved the resolution. Deposit Town Supervisor Thomas Axtell, Harpersfield Town Supervisor James Eisel and Middletown Town Supervisor Pat Davis were absent.

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221.