As a downstate stakeholder, maintaining a safe drinking water quality is important. The water supply upstate not only is a vital resource for billions of people, but also is a defining marker of New York City. The proposed water filtration plant to ensure a clean supply is a solution; however, it is extremely costly to build and maintain and is a cost that a percentage of New York City residents cannot afford. Land acquisition is the far better option. Acquiring land is much less expensive at an estimate cost at $500 million, with the majority of the money going towards purchasing “undeveloped and sensitive land” near the water supply. On the other hand, building a filtration plant costs between $3-8 billions dollars and requires additional taxes to pay for it. Acquiring land is a very cost effective way to protect the water quality.
According to the study conducted by Mehaffey, Nash, Wade, et al., different land uses affect the water quality. This was done by looking at areas with different land covers and measuring the change in land cover and comparing it to change in total phosphorus, total nitrogen and fecal bacteria levels in six watersheds that feed the New York City population. The study concluded that agricultural land use was the major contributor to total nitrogen and total phosphorus in the streams as a result of runoff from erosion. On the other hand it does not have too much influence on fecal coliform bacteria trends, which if consumed by humans, can make them sick. Urban land use also has negatively influences water quality through pollutant runoff to streams and reservoirs. Areas with barely any change in human land use or forest cover have shown to have almost no change in nutrient concentrations. This shows that preventing further human development through land acquisition would protect the water quality.
Acquiring the land would also have other added benefits of protecting the environment, a and adding green space. Conservation practices can help protect hundreds of stream miles and preserve thousands of acres of natural land. Though New York City is far from this area, it can make a great impact on the environment of this area. New York City has been working on becoming more green recently and though the results cannot be seen directly by New York City residents, New York City would be consistent in its efforts. Acquiring land near the watershed would not only benefit the humans who drink the water, but also the natural environment where the watershed is located.
Mehaffey, M. H., M. S. Nash, T. G. Wade, D. W. Ebert, K. B. Jones, and A. Rager. “Linking Land Cover and Water Quality in New York City’s Water Supply Watersheds.” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 107.1-3 (2005): 29-44.
