NEW YORK: NY RURAL WATER ASSOCIATION SIX COUNTY PROJECT Elected Officials and NY Rural Water Association Specialists Conduct Six-County Project Background Location: The project covered a six-county area consisting of Albany, Fulton, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Schenectady and Schoharie Counties in eastern New York. Water Supply: The project involved ground water or surface water-based municipal systems serving populations of up to 50,000. Source Water Assessment: The New York State Department of Health completed source water assessments for the systems in the project, and all of them were found to have high susceptibility to contamination. Priority Contamination Threats Priority contamination threats vary among the six counties. Local Involvement and Developing the Protection Plan New York Rural Water Association had the lead for the project and initiated meetings with elected officials, PWS operators, and other officials, protection plans to review and discuss results of the source water assessments. These meetings resulted in the development of source water protection plans for some communities and awareness of the beneficial value of a source water protection program. Management Measures New York Rural Water Association (NYRWA) obtained the mailing addresses of mayors and town supervisors in the six-county study area, sent them basic information about SWAP, and invited them to meet with the NYRWA source water specialist to discuss their system's assessment. Prior to the mailing, the source water specialist verified that the local health department had distributed the assessment to the water system operator and that the elected town official had access to a copy as well. Individual meetings were arranged with eleven communities. The objectives of these meetings were to discuss the source water assessment process, review local source water assessments, and outline a community-specific list of possible protection actions. All of the meetings were held at the town or village offices. Typically, local officials at the meetings included the chief elected official (Mayor or Supervisor), other elected Board members, and the water system personnel. Sometimes other local officials such as the municipality's attorney or code enforcement officer attended as well. NYRWA facilitated each of the meetings which involved a PowerPoint presentation followed by a discussion of protection actions that the municipality had developed and additional items that could Office of Water (4606M) 816F10032 January 2010 ------- be pursued in the future. A summary of each meeting is contained in the Project Report, together with a tentative source water protection strategy. Contingency Planning All New York public water systems serving above 3300 people must currently have emergency response plans that can be used if there are source or distribution contamination issues. These include alternate sources, interconnections with other public water systems, use of bottled water, use of water from certified bulk haulers that is guaranteed to meet drinking water standards, and in some cases, additional treatment is available. In addition, there are requirements for all public water systems that suffer broken water mains or find contamination to notify their customers, and to boil water before use if appropriate. Some water systems have additional contingency plans. Measuring Program Results It was evident that the results of source water assessments are not well known to many local representatives of water systems. The nature of the potential contaminant inventory was often not recognized until the discrete sources of contamination and/or land cover were identified in more detail by NYRWA. Thus, meetings with an individual water supplier/community provide the necessary dialogue to stress that assessments provide a base for a comprehensive source water protection program. Individual meetings increase source water awareness and help focus attention on existing and future protection measures. The majority of the communities reached in the project now realize that a subsequent source water protection program can be developed and that this would be highly beneficial. Some of these communities have subsequently worked with NYRWA to develop such programs, notably, the Village of Delanson (see case study [insert link to new Delanson case study]) and Town of Schodack (discussed below). The study also determined that water systems in the region were interested in a number of future protection measures ranging from local regulatory laws to public education to updating of their emergency response plans. Town of Schodack (Rensselaer County) has an aquifer protection law that prohibits facilities/activities such as truck refueling, gas stations and heavy manufacturing from being established within the recharge area, but the law was in place prior to the meeting with NYRWA. Another law is being planned to cover a newly installed wellfield. A new code disqualified a well for use as a public water supply because it was too close to a highway and a stormwater detention pond. For further information, contact: Steven Winkley New York Rural Water Association (518) 828-3155 winkley@nyruralwater.org Office of Water (4606M) 816F10032 January 2010 ------- |