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

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   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

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