Water Puzzle

Dear Nieces and Nephews, last week the Thunderous Stevie Neuhaus County Executive declared his commitment to the environment in his “This week in Orange County” Feb 8^th” press release, in part:

STEVE SAID: “This week Orange County continued its commitment to open spaces and conservation. Part of our community’s great value is found in its rural character. As someone who loves the outdoors, it gives me great satisfaction to announce yet another timely preservation action by my administration. On February 5, at my request, the legislature voted unanimously to remove 95 acres of Glenmere Lake property in the Town of Warwick from public sale and retain it for county purposes. The conservation effort is consistent with a 2010 Orange County law authorizing that delinquent tax properties could be removed from public sale after the county forecloses on the property and prior to auction if the land was deemed to be of public benefit. In this case, the newly acquired 95 acres will join approximately 695 acres Orange County already owns in the Glenmere Preserve extending across the towns and village of Warwick, Chester, and Florida as well as the hamlet of Sugar Loaf.”

We are all familiar by now, with Steve’s double speak (eg. Keeping Valley View “open”)  Here he says “...from public sale and retain it for county purposes” surrounded by the easily swallowed platitudes of ‘conservation’ ‘open spaces’ and ‘wildlife’, along with his declaration of love for the outdoors. Sounds nice.

“RETAIN FOR COUNTY PURPOSES" 

What is a “county purpose? A Golf Course, an Airport? What it really means is that the County owns this land and can sell it if it wants to do so. Or use it as integral piece of an overall plan.

Remember the Eddie Diana Water loop? Eddie the former County Executive had a vision of a county wide, county owned water supply: a series of interconnected water sources, where the county controlled the flow: who gets how much and when. This water loop plan included individually owned wells.

“What’s so bad about that?” You say. “Plenty” says your Auntie

If you own property with a well that supplies YOUR home (and others, if you choose,) why should a county level of government be able to SEIZE your water? Then the county will have a right to redirect the flow anywhere! (And then charge you for it!) If you are a self-sustaining municipality in regard to water (and most are in OC) why do you need the County level of Government imposing control over something your municipality is already administering? Why would the County Executive want such control? Why, to direct where the water goes and because, the county executive, through the OCWA would then establish the water rates, the amount that you would pay. As far as the individually owned wells, the owners of those properties would essentially be paying the county for their own water! And the same for the municipalities with their own water systems whether they be aquifers, wells or reservoirs. 

Remember. like the IDA, the Orange County Water Authority (OCWA) has the power of eminent domain.

And we all will be paying off the bonds for something that was not needed, except to change the structure of ownership.

There is another more sinister reason for not wanting county or state controlled water systems.

How can any of us be assured that elected officials on the county and state levels will look out for our best interests? We have many examples of elected officials catering to municipalities with “the block vote” If such elected officials controlled “the spigot” as Stevie has said, how can we be assured that the water will not be redirected to areas that overwhelmingly supported that official, to the detriment of other areas?

"Now, Auntie, Politicians don’t play favorites” you say. “And they are always open about their intentions.”

Auntie hopes that you are kidding.

Just look at the county owned lands on or near watershed areas or the plans to purchase such acreage. Here are some examples:

“…the newly acquired 95 acres will join approximately 695 acres Orange County already owns in the Glenmere Preserve”

Also, 24 acres along the Black Meadow creek are county owned- another area identified in the OCW Master Plan as a site for a reservoir. Water loop!

And the land for the Indigot reservoir in Mount Hope is also county owned.

JUNE 18 2013 CC Agenda - City of Middletown

 Resolution to authorize the Mayor to sign the attached Indigot Reservoir lease agreement

with the County of Orange for the City to use potion of Indigot Reservoir site for the

impoundment of a water supply for temporary and emergency purposes. (their grammatical error)

 For this:

    

The County Executive gets this: 

 

The County Executive gets full control. 

Nice job, Joe-Joe, gambling with city water.

The minutes for 6-18-13 show the following: On motion of Ald. Sabnis seconded by Ald. Masi

RESOLVED; that the Common Council of the City of Middletown concurs with the Board of Estimate and Apportionment and authorizes the Mayor to sign the attached Indigot Reservoir lease agreement with the County of Orange for the City to use potion of Indigot Reservoir site for the impoundment of a water supply for temporary and emergency purposes.

Roll Call: Ayes: Ald. Ramkissoon, Luccketti, Sommers, Masi, Sabnis, Sierra, Pres. Rodrigues-7

Abstain: Ald. Amodio-1

Another example: The Dwaarkill

From the Times Herald Record (THR) 1/24/13

The Orange County Water Authority has won a $520,200 state grant to design a water supply that would replace or supplement the wells now serving the hamlet of Pine Bush and the Pine Bush School District.

The money was part of $4 million distributed to 18 projects in the latest round of Local Government Efficiency grants, administered by the Department of State.

The Pine Bush project, estimated to cost $6.1 million, would involve tapping wells in the county-owned Dwaarkill property in Crawford, treating the water and piping it to Pine Bush, two miles away. The county's consultants recommend using three wells capable of yielding 490,000 gallons a day, far more than currently used at peak demand.

That’s a huge amount of water! Which municipality, in that area, needs enough water for over 10,000 people?

Viewed individually, each piece of this puzzle appears innocuous; viewed as a whole, the puzzle  creates an entirely different picture. Can you see the entire puzzle yet?

 

With NYS identified as the state with the most politically corrupt environment in the US, do you feel comfortable with politicians controlling such a precious asset, one of the necessities to sustain life? Do you?

It would be like putting John Gotti in charge of the NY stock exchange, and the opening bell clanged by Sheldon Silver.

And remember what Steve Said in the press release above:
“Part of our community’s great value is found in its rural character”

More doublespeak?

 

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