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.
