By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau
New York City recently announced the purchase of another 1,026 acres of land for watershed protection, Mercedes Padilla, New York City Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman, said Friday.
The city has purchased land or easements on more than 108,000 acres of upstate land and is in the process of applying to continue the watershed Land Acquisition Program.
Environmental Protection Commissioner Cas Holloway said Thursday the land was purchased for $2.8 million. Nine parcels of land were acquired, ranging in size from 16 to 309 acres. The properties are located in Greene, Delaware, Schoharie and Ulster counties.
Padilla said she was unable to reveal where the parcels are located because the sellers requested confidentiality agreements as a condition of the sales.
On Feb. 28, Holloway announced the purchase of 685 acres for $3.1 million, which brought the total acquisition to more than 105,000 acres. The city has not issued releases about the other 2,000 acres it is claiming to have purchased based on the increase of total acreage between Feb. 28 and now.
Whereas the average cost per acre of the 685 acres purchased was $4,525, the cost dropped to an average of $2,534.11 for the 1,026 acres.
Dean Frazier, Delaware County Watershed affairs commissioner, spoke at a public meeting March 24 at the Delaware County Courthouse, questioning the need for additional acquisitions in the Cannonsville and Pepacton basins.
Frazier said Friday that the city water department rate payers are beginning to complain about costs.
"It's not surprising the ratepayers are getting upset," Frazier said. "The city is paying approximately $115 to $120 million in upstate real property taxes, and the more land they buy the more they will pay. The city is in dire straits financially, and they will have to pay land taxes forever."
"We have already committed more than $1.5 billion overall in watershed protection programs, including more than $300 million for the purchase of land and easements upstate and $55 million for the Septic Rehabilitation Program that is vital to our partners upstate," Holloway said in a media release.
Frazier said the purity of the water in the Cannonsville Reservoir improved dramatically before the land acquisition program began.
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 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.
