The comment period for the New York City Land Acquisition Program has been extended to November 22, 2010. Briefly stated, the NYC water supply is protected in large part via watershed land acquisition. In addition to protecting the water supply, these lands provide habitat for wildlife and land for recreational activities. The NYC watershed protection program is often held out as an example of “Nature’s Services,” specifically keeping water “naturally” clean as opposed to utilizing filtration. This is much less costly to taxpayers – a filtration plant running upwards of $10 billion, with multi-million $ annual operating costs, while the land acquisition program is but a fraction. Jack McShane wrote an excellent letter to the editor this past Spring.  I encourage those caring about clean water and the additional benefits of this land acquisition program to submit comments. While a short comment in favor is all that’s needed, here are a number of links to additional information, followed by the official notice.

Links to Additional Information:

• EPA: New York City Watershed Agreement

“By putting in place the mechanisms for protecting New York City’s drinking water at the source, by keeping contamination out of the water supply in the first place, we offer the promise of protecting public health while saving billions of dollars for rate payers.”

- Administrator Carol Browner, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

• Watershed Protection & New York City’s Water Supply (Prince William Conservation Alliance)
• EPA: NYC Watershed Protection Programs
• NYC Watershed (UC Davis Information Center for the Environment – ICE)
• Public Comment Period Open on NYC DEP’s Land Acquisition Program

“Do you feel that the NYC DEP land acquisition program has an impact on agriculture? Do you think the program could be improved to better protect our farms and our farmers, while still keeping the NYC water supply permanently protected? Farm Catskills does – and we’re sharing a call to action with others who might agree that the land acquisition program can both protect water and support the future of farms!”

• New York City Watershed: Potential for Biodiversity Conservation
• New York City Depends on Natural Water Filtration (RAND – Nature’sServices)
• EPA: A Landscape Analysis of New York City’s Water Supply
• NYC DEP: Watershed Protection
• NYC DEP: Watershed Protection Science & Research
• National Academy of Science – Watershed Management for Potable Water Supply: Assessing the New York City Strategy Academies’ Findings / Complete Text (560 pages)

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation – Notice of Draft Permit Availability for Review

APPLICANT AND SEQR LEAD AGENCY: New York City Department of Environmental Protection, 59-17 Junction Boulevard, Flushing, NY 11373 (NYSDEC Application #0-9999-00051/00001/ NYCDEP CEQR No: 10DEP046U)

TITLE OF ACTION: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: Water Supply Permit Application Decision

New York City Department of Environmental Protection: Continued funding and implementation of the New York City Watershed Land Acquisition Program

PUBLIC NOTICE AND PUBLIC COMMENT: A public notice for this project application and DEIS was published on June 23, 2010 in NYSDEC’s Environmental Notice Bulletin, the City Record, and in local newspapers located within the New York City Watershed. The notice provided for written comments to be submitted by the public by July 30, 2010. The public comment period was extended to September 15, 2010 and subsequently to October 22, 2010 and again to November 22, 2010. A draft Water Supply permit is available for review and written comments must be submitted by November 22, 2010.

A draft Water Supply permit is available for review and written comments must be submitted by November 22, 2010.

The draft permit is available for review at the NYSDEC website (http://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/69848.html) under Regions 3 and 4, which is also linked through NYCDEP’s website (http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/environmental_reviews/lap.shtml) which contains the DEIS and Waters Supply Permit application, as well as the following project information/public review repositories listed below:

Delaware County Office of Watershed Affairs
1 Courthouse Square, Suite 3
Delhi, NY 13753

Hunter Town Hall
5748 State Rte. 23A
Tannersville, NY 12485

Gilboa Town Hall
373-1 State Route 990V
Gilboa, NY 12076

Neversink Town Hall
273 Main Street
Grahamsville, NY 12740

NYCDEP
71 Smith Ave
Kingston, NY 12401

Putnam County Office Building
40 Gleneida Avenue, 3rd Floor
Carmel, New York 10512

WRITTEN COMMENTS: All comments must be filed with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Environmental Permits, Region 4 Field Office, 65561 State Highway 10, Stamford, NY 12167, Attn: Martha A. Bellinger, Project Manager/Environmental Analyst. All written comments must be submitted (postmarked) by no later than November 22, 2010. Comments may also be submitted in electronic form to R4DEP@gw.dec.state.ny.us.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Martha A. Bellinger, Project Manager/Environmental Analyst, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Environmental Permits, Region 4 Field Office, 65561 State Highway 10, Stamford, NY 12167, 607-652-7741, Email: mabellin@gw.dec.state.ny.us