Rockland Water Coalition

The Planning Board of Haverstraw has opened a Public Hearing on the proposed Pilot Plant by Suez / United Water. The Public Hearing was opened at Haverstraw Town Hall on Wednesday August 19th and will remain open until the next meeting – September 9th. Members of the Rockland Water Coalition were present and added many comments relevant to the proposed Pilot Plant to the Public Record.

Chief among the comments was the status of Suez / United Water’s application for a permit for the Pilot Facility to the DEC. At the time of the hearing Suez had not submitted a completed application to the DEC. The coalition urged the planning board to reserve judgement in this case until all coments from the DEC about the intake facility are received so they may be incorporated in the final site plan.

Also the action proposed is a Type II action based upon the temporary nature of the activities. The coalition urged the planning board to be detailed in reviewing the application and applying time based approvals as necessary for the build, operation, decommissioning and restoration of all areas post testing. Corporations are usualy quick to build and operate and do not take their responsibilities to restore the area in a reasonable timeframe as seriously.

Many speakers called on the Planning Board to review the environmental impacts of the Pilot Plant to ensure that mitigation measures can be put in place and impacts can be minimised.

Public representative Shirley Lasker (Clarkestown) called for the Planning Board to take on overarching view of water use and conservation in Rockland County. Ms. Lasker indicated that the plant is not necessary and has no support among the community.

SPACE Comments-WDesalPilot-090819

09-06-12-SuezArchitectLetter

09-06-22-NarrativeUWNYPilot

09-06-22-SuezApplicationPilot

09-07-22-Town BoardTranscript

ALBANY – A $750 million cleanup of the upper Hudson River is shut down temporarily months after its launch because PCBs kicked up by the dredging are drifting downstream.

At the earliest, dredging is expected to resume Tuesday. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it was notified by the General Electric Co. that water test results last week exceeded safety limits.

The EPA says possible actions include increased use of special silt curtains.

GE, which discharged wastewater containing PCBs into the Hudson before the substance was banned in 1977, is paying for and overseeing the work.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20090810/NEWS/908100357

There are many environmental, health and cost issues about the proposed desalination plant that need to be fully examined – as well as more sustainable alternatives to conserve and better manage our water resources.

George Potanovic, Jr., President, SPACE, Stony Point Action Committee for the Environment

Rain swells Hudson’s bacteria levels

THE JOURNAL NEWS

July 31, 2009 (excerpts from article)

The river is much cleaner than it was decades ago, but it’s still battling fecal bacteria and other biological pollution that comes from storm water runoff and sewage overflows.

And with historically high rainfall in June and showers nearly every other day since, the 24-hour waiting period for swimming after a thunderstorm seems never to expire.

Andrew Juhl, one of the Lamont researchers involved in the water testing, said yesterday that there is growing evidence the river is struggling to clean itself of the overflow from our region’s antiquated sewer system.

“There’s a direct connection between rainfall and contamination,” Juhl said. “The first 24 hours you see the most dramatic declines, but the contamination hangs around more than 24 hours. And there are some spots that are bad even when it hasn’t rained.” 

To read the full story in today’s Journal News see “EarthWatch” by Greg Clary: http://www.lohud.com/article/2009907310349

To learn more about the United Water proposed desalination-filtration plant and the Rockland Coalition for Sustainable Water, see the news release, reports and the links below. To be added to our e-mail list, send an e-mail to:  RocklandWater@gmail.com