DELAWARE COUNTY
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Senator Charles D. Cook County Office Building
111 Main Street, Suite 1
Delhi, New York 13753
Telephone: 607-832-5110
Fax: 607-832-6011
Tina B. Molé, Chairman
Penny Bishop, Clerk
PRESS RELEASE
October 17, 2024
The Delaware County Board of Supervisors is proud to report we have been successful in negotiating an agreement with New York City to cease the acquisition of large open space parcels in the West of Hudson watershed priority areas 3 and 4. This significant change in policy is a result of years of work that provides for scientifically based programming that has a more profound and direct benefit to water quality than land acquisition. Land acquisition is a widely used and respected tool to minimize potential threats to water quality worldwide and has been part of the water supply permits issued to New York City since the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was signed in 1997.
In the West of Hudson watershed land acquisition is a robust program that supports the purchase of large undeveloped properties meeting certain natural feature criteria, as well as a suite of other programs. Land acquisition programs include NYC DEP easements, Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC) easements, flood buyout mitigation acquisitions and streamside acquisitions for buffer protection. The newly released policy change impacts the large parcel acquisition and the purchase of NYC DEP easements in priority areas 3 and 4 only. The agreement, however, maintains the programs supporting WAC easements, flood mitigation, and a more balanced and collaborative streamside acquisition program in all four (4) priority areas of the West of Hudson watershed.
The priority areas have been identified based on the location and makeup of the lands and the direct potential to threaten the New York City water supply. Priority areas 1 and 2 include lands that are contiguous to the reservoirs and the infrastructure supporting the water transmission systems, making them more sensitive and therefore requiring substantially greater protection. Therefore, the program will allow for NYC DEP to solicit lands for acquisition and advance contracts from willing sellers in these priority areas.
The shift in policy is a result of many years of analysis and a comprehensive understanding of how land acquisition benefits water quality and the impacts it has had on community vitality. The premise behind purchasing large tracts of land that have the potential for adversely impacting water quality, if developed, is to deter development that may impair the resource. However, based on growth trends, local land use polices, the lack of infrastructure and transportation, the threat of harmful development is greatly diminished. Therefore, the need for large scale land acquisition in the rural areas of the West of Hudson watershed is reduced significantly. Additionally, the regulatory requirements for septic and stormwater development substantially mitigates any possible contaminates from private development that may occur on lands within the watershed further minimizing any potential for threat to the water resource.
This change is welcomed as we grapple with issues such as a lack of affordable workforce housing, a limited amount of capacity to extend or develop municipal sewer and water systems, an aging and decreasing population base and an increase in the local cost of living. Through the most recent stakeholder negotiations we have worked with our watershed partners to address these issues as part of the overall purpose of the MoA. Delaware County has made a clear and direct argument supported through scientific studies that focused programs such as precision feed management, best management practices for agricultural and stream programs, flood mitigation and infrastructure resiliency, has had a measurable and direct benefit to both water quality and community vitality. The dual purpose of these programs supports the mutually beneficial agreement and provides a foundation for this recent decision.
Through the preservation of the other land acquisition programs such as the WAC easement programs, the collaborative streamside acquisition program and the flood buyout program, we can advance measures that have a direct benefit to water quality protection while providing a mechanism to support locally important economic initiatives. These programs are based on the premise that lands will be protected through easement or acquisition from willing sellers and community support to allow acquisition as part of a local objective.
As we move into a new phase of watershed management and stewardship we will continue to use scientific evidence for decision making. This will further enhance the decision to allocate the finite resources of the watershed partners into programs that support the watershed objectives. Continuing the agriculture, stream and septic programs will encourage economic investments in the watershed communities while providing measurable benefits of nutrient reduction in the water supply. This agreed upon goal is the basis for the ongoing negotiations and is the result of more than 25 years of study, growth and a continued belief in the foundations of the MoA.
We would like to acknowledge the efforts of our watershed partnership team that has advanced and supported the scientific approach to watershed management. The Coalition of Watershed Towns, The Catskill Watershed Corporation, the Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation District along with their counterparts in the other four counties, the Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Watershed Agricultural Council, and the technical staff in Delaware County are the backbone that makes the watershed programs so successful. The legal expertise of Kevin Young and his associates working closely with CWT counsel Jeff Baker have been essential to this progress and we are truly grateful for their guidance, knowledge and determination in seeing this through.
It is also important to acknowledge and thank our partners at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection along with the New York State Department of Health, The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Watershed Inspector General and the Environmental Protection Agency. Their willingness to listen to our concerns, accept our science and support such a profound change in policy is the true measure of a partnership. We all know the management of the New York City watershed is not only a very large undertaking it has many moving and complicated components that if not managed can result in dire consequences. Delaware County has been and will remain committed to being a fair and equal partner in this mission as we look to a future that supports clean and safe water for the New York City rate payers while also promoting and preserving our local economy, identity and rural way of life.