Drinking water is essential to everyday life and New York City is facing a critical dilemma of increasing costs in their lifestyle to maintain safe drinking water. New York City has been known for the safety and quality of its drinking water.To maintain this consistency of water, New York City may have to pay a large sum of money totally up to billions of dollars for a filtration plant. The Environmental Protection Agency proposed that New York City plan for a construction of a filtration plant for its Catskill and Delaware water supply, which has been estimated to surpass the city’s annual budget. This would have a large affect on Downtown stakeholders as they are the ones receiving the water supply. There is a large chance that Downtown stakeholders will have to shoulder the costs of the construction of this filtration plant, which is a heavy burden as most of these stakeholders are of low income.
New York City has entered a deal with the Environmental Protection Agency to avoid building a filtration plant. In exchange for not having to building a costly filtration plant, New York City must take measures to safeguard the water supply to ensure its safety and quality. Actions the city had to take involved updating its sewage plants with new equipment and buying land around reservoirs to prevent development that may lead to chemical runoff. So far, “the city bought 20,000 acres around city reservoirs, which includes 5,400 acres around the West Branch Reservoir-a crucial reservoir of the Catskills.” The city also “upgraded six city-owned sewage plants that produce 40 percent of the total discharge into the Catskill reservoirs.”
Although New York City did well in some areas, there were areas that lacked in comparison. To continue avoiding the construction of the filtration plant, New York City must work harder and faster on protecting their upstate reservoirs. These reservoirs are our main source of drinking water supply and by protecting them we are not only ensuring the quality and safety of the city’s water, but also avoiding construction of a filtration plant that would be out of the city’s budget. Upholding their end of the deal, New York City will not have to build a costly plant that Downtown stakeholders will most likely bear the costs of.
Source: Hu, Winnie. “U.S. Says New York City May Have to Spend $6 Billion on Filtration.” New York Times 1 June 2000, sec. B: 1. Print.
