Release #431-96

Contact: Colleen Roche (212) 788-2958, John Bennett (DEP) (718) 595-6600, or Michael McKeon (Governor's Office) (518) 474-8414

This final accord--reached among New York City, New York state, the EPA, the upstate watershed communities and a coalition of environmental and public interest organizations--follows last November's agreement in principle among these same parties.

The agreement's water quality protection package is designed to safeguard the City's water supply well into the next century. The agreement sets out a watershed protection program consisting of three key components:

• the City will promulgate and the State will approve a long-needed overhaul and updating of the City's 1953 watershed regulations;

• the City will acquire thousands of acres of watershed lands that will enable the City to safeguard water quality and prevent pollution; and

• the City will join with watershed communities to create a host of environmental partnership programs that will link City water quality interests with the needs of the watershed communities to achieve environmentally sensitive development.

The $340 million agreement supplements the City's existing comprehensive watershed program, bringing the City's total planned investment in the watershed regions from 1992 through the next decade to $1.5 billion.

Mayor Giuliani said, "I am very pleased to join the Governor, Carol Browner and my colleagues from the watershed and environmental communities in announcing this historic agreement which will protect New York City's water supply into the next century. Many people have worked extremely hard to make this agreement a reality and I want to extend my congratulations and thanks to all of them. Specifically, I would like to single out my good friend and former First Deputy Mayor Peter Powers without whose leadership this agreement would not have been possible.

"New York City is extremely fortunate to have access to one of the world's finest water supplies. Today's agreement will ensure that this extraordinary legacy is preserved and protected into the 21st Century. Working with our upstate partners, this agreement is an important investment in the well-being of future generations of New Yorkers who count on safe and clean drinking water," the Mayor concluded.

"This historic agreement is the product of hard work, determination and a deep commitment by all sides to protect the drinking water for millions of New Yorkers and the economic viability of the watershed communities," Governor Pataki said.

"This comprehensive plan forges a new era for New York State, putting aside the differences of the past and tying New York City and the watershed communities together in a partnership that will help shape a bright future for our citizens," the Governor said. "By keeping a sharp focus on our foals, we defied the skeptics who said it couldn't be done and agreed on a plan that will keep the drinking water for nine million New Yorkers clean and allow watershed communities to grow and prosper in an environmentally sound manner."

DEP Commissioner Miele said, "Many many months of negotiation by many dedicated people have produced today's ground-breaking agreement. With this final accord, we enter a new era of cooperation with our neighbors in the upstate watersheds with whom we share a common purpose and destiny. We are also ensuring that the quality of the City's water supply will remain at the forefront of the water systems throughout the nation and the world."

The City's water supply includes three separate watersheds - the Croton system, the Catskill and Delaware systems. Together these systems span more than 1,900 square miles and include 60 towns located in the upstate counties of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Ulster, Greene, Schoharie, Sullivan and Delaware.

The Mayor said that while the City's drinking water is of excellent quality and currently meets all federal and State standards, population growth and development in the watershed suggest that strict controls are necessary now to safeguard the water supply against any future stresses.

Under the federal Surface Water Treatment Rule, all surface water supplies, such as New York City's, must be filtered unless the supply meets rigorous water-quality standards, and the system operator establishes a comprehensive watershed protection strategy designed to prevent future deterioration of water quality. This final agreement is expected to allow the City to avoid the need to build a multi-billion dollar plant to filter its Catskill and Delaware systems, which provide 90 percent of the City's drinking water.

The construction cost estimates for such a facility range from $4 billion to $6 billion, with annual operating costs of an additional $300 million -- expenses that would double or triple rate-payer's water bills. The provisions of the plan announced today are expected to increase the average residential customer's annual water bill by an additional $7 per year over the next five years.

The final agreement, which is detailed in a Memorandum of Agreement, is the result of a year-and-a-half of intense negotiations and includes various programs designed to prevent pollution in the water supply by such sources as stormwater runoff, aging sewage treatment plants and septic tanks. The accord will achieve these water quality protection goals while enabling environmentally sustainable development in the watershed communities.

Highlights of the three-point agreement:

• The City will invest a total of $260 million to acquire additional watershed lands and conservation easements to provide a buffer around reservoirs, critical streams and wetlands. The State will issue a land acquisition permit to the City. The City has agreed with the watershed communities on criteria governing the purchase of water-quality sensitive lands. The City now owns about 80,000 acres of watershed land, including reservoirs -- or only about seven percent of its watershed.

• The City will promulgate, and the State will approve, revised rules and regulations to replace the existing City watershed regulations which date back to 1953. The revised regulations will be subject to extensive public review and comment during the next 60 days. The City will hold public hearings and public information meetings during this period. The regulations are expected to take effect in April 1997.

• The City will commit to fund approximately $334 million in new protection and partnership programs with local communities over the next decade. Through these programs the City and watershed residents will work together to identify and mitigate sources of pollution. The partnerships will include a water quality investment program to address existing water quality problems East of the Hudson River; the Catskill Fund for the Future to promote environmentally responsible economic development West of the Hudson; and a Watershed Protection Partnership Council, which will serve as a regional advisory forum for water quality initiatives and watershed concerns.

The plan also includes approximately $82 million to initiate upgrades of the last three of the City's nine wastewater treatment plants in the watershed. Six plant reconstructions have already begun at a cost of approximately $148 million. Eight plants will be brought up to tertiary treatment standards. The plan also calls for approximately $75 million to upgrade 105 exiting public and private watershed treatment plants located in the watershed.

In December 1993, the EPA granted the City a three-year conditional waiver from the filtration requirement, based on the City's commitment to develop "enhanced watershed control programs." Under the final agreement, the EPA has agreed to extend this determination to April 15, 1997 with a further extension to April 15, 2002 if the City's revised regulations are in effect and certain other conditions are met before April 1997. Although the Croton supply now meets all water quality standards, the City is planning to build a filtration plant for that system which provides about ten percent of daily water consumption.

Mayor Giuliani also thanked the following individuals for their extraordinary and distinguished efforts which lead to today's historic agreement: former New York City DEP Commissioner Marilyn Gelber; Elizabeth St. Clair, Chief of the Law Department's Environmental Law Division and her colleagues Assistant Chief Susan E. Amron and Assistant Chief Steven Stein Cushman; General Counsel of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection Mark Hoffer, Geri Klein - Assistant Counsel, Michael Principe - Deputy Director Division of Water Quality Control, Ira Stern - Director of Watershed Planning and Community Affairs; and Seth O. Kaye, Director of the Mayor's Office of Transportation.