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The Westchester County Board of Legislators last week approved the extension of an Inter-Municipal Agreement that protects the water quality of the New York City water supply and its watershed area. Locally, this includes the Croton and Kensico Reservoirs. The towns that are affected include North Salem, Lewisboro, Mt. Kisco, Mt. Pleasant and Cortlandt.
The Agreement between the County and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection originated in 1997. It stipulated that the NYCDEP would pay the County $38 million to support water-related projects that affect the NYC watershed. The fund is known as the East of Hudson Water Quality Investment Fund.
In 2005, the County released $7.5 million from this fund to cover the costs of several projects. The extension will allow the County to continuing working on these projects, which are not yet finished.
Legislator/Majority Leader Peter Harckham (D-Katonah) explained that, "the way in which each municipality benefits varies from town to town. In Cortlandt, for example, it applies to septic repair. In some cases it deals with storm water runoff, in other cases, wetlands restoration."
He added, "If we didn't get the extension, in many cases we would have had to return the money. Now we've got more time to complete the work."
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