Washington, DC -- Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) asked Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson to provide an update on the EPA’s review of the regulations requiring New York City to spend at least $1.6 billion on a cover for the Hillview Reservoir. 

The cover is to protect the water from pathogens in animal and bird droppings.  The EPA claims the cover would prevent up to 365,000 cases of cryptosporidiosis annually, but the New York City Health Department reports the city has only about 100 cases annually. Last August the EPA agreed to hold off on requiring the cover pending further review.

Rep. Engel said, “I appreciate the kind of pressure she is under, as the Republican Majority has been fixated on the EPA since they took power, regardless of how many other issues fail to get attention.  The American people are looking to Congress to come to a bipartisan agreement on how to put more people back to work, not on how we can weaken the EPA.  I am very much in favor of the EPA protecting our drinking water, but in this case, the cover is unnecessary.  New York City is building an ultraviolet disinfection facility to treat the City’s water supply for the same pathogens the cover is designed to prevent. 

“Building the cover is a major expense that would seriously disrupt the neighborhood abutting the reservoir. In this case, the benefits are significantly outweighed by the costs.  The EPA should continually point out risks and target potential problems.  That is what they are designed to do, and it is something we sorely need in our country. However, the bottom line in this case is that we have this situation already covered.”

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