By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau
New York City is acquiring an additional 685 acres of land for watershed protection, New York City Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Michael Saucier said earlier this month.
The city has purchased land or easements on more than 105,000 acres of upstate land and is applying for a new water supply permit to continue the watershed Land Acquisition Program.
An easement is the right to use another's land for a stated purpose.
DEP Commissioner Cas Holloway said the 685 acres were purchased for $3.1 million.
The city acquires land from willing sellers and pays fair market value based on independent appraisals.
The average cost per acre of the 685 acres being purchased is $4,525.
Since the inception of the Land Acquisition Program, New York City has purchased land in the Catskill/Delaware and Croton systems, which cover parts of eight counties.
The proposed new water supply permit requires approval from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Delaware County Watershed affairs Commissioner Dean Frazier said a public meeting will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. March 24 at the Delaware County Courthouse at 3 Court St. in Delhi.
Since its creation in 1990, the Land Acquisition Program has raised the level of permanently protected land in the Catskill/Delaware system from 24 percent in 1997 to 34 percent to date, according to a statement issued by Angela Licata, DEC deputy commissioner.
Saucier said he was unable to reveal where the current parcels are located because most of the sales have not yet closed.
"New York City's watershed serves roughly half the population of New York state, and since 2002, we have committed nearly $300 million to continue the land-acquisition program that has been a critical component of our efforts to protect the city's water supply since 1997," Holloway said in a media release.
"These investments, and the partnerships we have established with the watershed towns that are the home to our water supply have enabled New York City to preserve its high-quality drinking water," Holloway added.
New York City remains one of only five large cities in the country that is not required to filter the majority of its drinking water. The 2007 Filtration Avoidance Determination (FAD) requires the city to continue a land-acquisition program, but the FAD expires in 2012.
Patricia Breakey can be reached at 746-2894 or at stardelhi@stny.rr.com.
