Pure water is one of the many great legacies of former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller. In the 1960s, he proposed a pure waters bond act to finance the facilities necessary to provide safe drinking water and to clean sewage before it is discharged in our rivers and other water bodies. He also successfully lobbied Washington to provide funding for water treatment and drinking water facilities.
While Rockefeller's efforts resulted in tremendous strides to improving water quality throughout the state, particularly for the Hudson River, time passes. Now billions of gallons of untreated and partially treated sewage pours into public water supplies each year. It is increasing the risk of exposure to harmful bacteria and toxins.
Sewage treatment facilities are costly to operate. Aging infrastructure crumbles, and funding for water facilities by cities, the state and the federal government has declined. More than 600 wastewater treatment facilities in New York are operating beyond their expectancy, and others are using outmoded technology. The result is discharge of untreated sewage into waters used for recreation and drinking supplies.
The Capital Region was singled out by the environmental group Riverkeeper as one of the worst spots for sewage contamination in the Hudson. The reason: Our sewer systems dump untreated sewage into the river when they are over capacity due to heavy rain. Our region has 92 combined sewer overflows, which dump 1.2 billion gallons of combined storm water and wastewater into the Hudson each year. This overflow enters a narrower portion of the Hudson, unlike lower portions of the river that have more volume and are closer to the Atlantic Ocean.
The good local news is that six local municipalities — Albany, Cohoes, Green Island, Rensselaer, Troy and Watervliet — now have a state-approved, multifaceted collaborative plan to deal with sewage overflows, albeit with a hefty price tag of $110 million.
How to finance the restoration of our sewage and drinking water treatment facilities will be discussed at a Rockefeller Institute forum in Albany on Wednesday. It will also consider green infrastructure, including actions to better manage storm water runoff, keeping rainwater out of storm and combined sewers, ultimately improving water quality. Philadelphia, for example, has installed green infrastructure projects in neighborhoods, like permeable pavement in parking lots, rain gardens, bio-retention systems on school grounds and other public facilities, and construction of wetlands for management of storm water runoff. Syracuse has also been active in carrying out green infrastructure projects.
Last fall, Assemblyman Robert Sweeney, D-Lindenhurst, and Sen. Mark Grisanti, R-Buffalo, who chair their chambers' environmental panels, proposed a $5 billion environmental bond act, with $2 billion earmarked to protect water resources. Bond acts like the Pure Waters Bond Act were used by former Rockefeller to construct water infrastructure facilities.
Today's environmental legislators argue for the projects both for their necessity and for their potential to create jobs. There has been no action on the bond act proposal, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo has shown no interest in it. Yet, the huge cost of water and sewer projects, along with the governor's cap on local budgets and financial stress on cities like Albany, leave local governments unable to tackle this challenge.
The forum is chance for an analysis of a problem that government needs to address for us to have pure water.
Bray's email is secsunday@aol.com.
The Rockefeller Institute forum, "Challenges Facing Our Water Facilities Infrastructure," will be held from 1 to 4:30 p.m.Wednesday at 411 State St. The event is free; registration is required. For information, contact Michele Charbonneau at 443-5258 or write to michele.Charbonneau@rockinst.suny.edu.