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Congressman Vito J. Fossella
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| 13th Congressional District of New York w Staten Island & Brooklyn
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1239 Longworth House Office Building w Washington, D.C. 20515 w (202) 225-3371
4434 Amboy Road w Staten Island, NY 10312 w (718) 356-8400
9818 4th Avenue w Brooklyn, NY 11209 w (718) 630-5277
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Rep.
Fossella’s Bill to Ensure
Quality
of NYC’s Drinking Water
Passes
Subcommittee
Legislation
Would Reauthorize NYC Watershed Agreement & Provide $105 Million
To NYS
[
Washington
,
DC
] Congressman Vito Fossella’s (RNY13) legislation to provide $105
million over 7 years to New York State to ensure the quality of New
York City’s drinking water supply passed the Energy and Commerce
Committee’s Environment and Hazardous Materials
Subcommittee today 19-7.
Fossella’s
bill would reauthorize the historic New York City Watershed
Agreement. The 1997 Agreement between the City, State and federal
government enabled
New York City
to receive from the United States Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) a series of waivers of the federal requirement that it filter
water from its Catskill/Delaware supply in exchange for establishing
a comprehensive monitoring and surveillance program to protect and
enhance the drinking water.
“The
Watershed Agreement allows
New York City
residents to maintain access to one of the world’s most pristine
water supplies,” Fossella said. “The Agreement guarantees New
Yorkers safe, clean drinking water while protecting our environment
and preserving sensitive, undeveloped open space. Today, we took an
important step toward continuing this legacy and ensuring that New
Yorkers have both the finest drinking water and a healthy
environment.
The
New York City
water supply system
provides approximately 1.3 billion gallons of high quality drinking
water to almost nine million New Yorkers every day, according to the
New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The
source of this superior water supply is a network of 19 reservoirs
in a 1,969 square-mile watershed that extends 125 miles north and
west of
New York City
. The Croton system, the City's first upstate supply, provides about
10% of the daily consumption from 12 reservoirs and three controlled
lakes in Putnam and
Westchester
Counties
. The other 90% comes from six reservoirs in the Catskill/Delaware
system, located in
Delaware
, Greene, Schoharie, Sullivan and
Ulster
Counties
, west of the
Hudson River
.
The
Watershed Agreement’s monitoring program assesses both ambient
water quality conditions and point and non-point sources of
pollution that may impact water quality. Ambient monitoring consists
of the collection of data on existing water quality conditions.
Point sources of pollution include wastewater treatment plants while
non-point sources include storm water runoff and septic systems.
In
addition to federal funding, the Watershed Agreement has received a
combined $1.6 billion from the City and State of
New York
.
The
federal authorization expired in September 2003.
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