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Fighting to Save the Lower Esopus

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Fighting to Save the Lower Esopus Stream leading to Shandaken Tunnel portal in the Catskill Watershed. s Lower Esopus Creek PHOTO COURTESY ULSTER COUNTY w e n FIGHTING TO SAVE d THE LOWER ESOPUS e Citizens, Environmentalists and Local Officials O T N I P h A Join Forces to Reclaim Their Creek By Bill Wegner L E M A P s r Dynamics of a Polluted basin, where the clay particles Public Reaction Waterway e can eventually settle out of the Local residents who live on the t In the Catskill Watershed of water, and an east basin, where banks of the Esopus and/or use New York City’s drinking clean water from the west the creek for fishing and boat - a water supply, the Schoharie basin can be transferred and ing were rightfully outraged by Reservoir drains through the sent through the aqueduct to the muddy appearance of the w 18-mile-long Shandaken deliver drinking water to nine creek and the loss of its use for Tunnel and empties into the million consumers. recreational activities. Thousands Upper Esopus Creek at Allaben Following two major rain - of trout stocked in the creek by in Ulster County. From there storms last fall, the New York sport fishermen are presumed the Schoharie water, mixed City Department of Environ- dead as the cloudy water The Watershed with Esopus Creek water, flows mental Protection (DEP) calcu - impairs their ability to seek Program uses public education, advocacy 12 miles downstream and lated that the water level in the food and wears away their gills. and litigation in order empties into the Ashokan Ashokan’s west basin would Winter ice fishing for perch and to protect the unfil - Reservoir. Historically, this need to be drawn down to other game fish is absent on the tered drinking water supply for 9 million section of the Esopus has been accommodate the increased flow creek this season for the same New Yorkers. known as a blue-ribbon trout from upcoming spring rains and reason. Irrigation pumps on stream among fishermen snowmelt if operators were to agricultural lands in the flood - worldwide. However, because avoid spilling turbid water into plains west of Kingston are at the geology of the Catskills has the cleaner east basin. To create risk of clogging with sediment numerous clay deposits, the a void in the west basin, the during operation. Rafters, water entering the Ashokan DEP activated a “waste chan - kayakers, business owners and Reservoir from the Upper nel” to discharge turbid water residents whose children swim Esopus is sometimes cloudy into the Lower Esopus Creek, in the creek during summer and shaded reddish-brown thereby bypassing the east basin. were alarmed by the eyesore S from the suspended clay parti - The discharge of this turbid their creek had become and R E B M A cles that erode from stream - water over a four-month period fearful that turbid water condi - H C N banks in stormwater runoff. To resulted in silt and suspended tions would continue into the Y L O D avoid sending this turbid water sediment clouding and fouling spring and summer months. N E W G through the Catskill Aqueduct 32 miles of creek from the : T I D E to New York City and upstate Ashokan Reservoir to the mouth R C O communities, the Ashokan of the Esopus at the Hudson T O H P Reservoir is divided into a west River in Saugerties. 18 Intervention flush all the suspended sedi - FIXING THE LEAKS IN THE DELAWARE AQUEDUCT In response to concerns local ment from the creek. Then, residents loudly voiced to the beginning in the spring of this Riverkeeper Helps DEP, Ulster County, Riverkeeper year, the DEP would begin and other environmental making periodic clear water Communities Take Action groups, the DEP agreed to con - releases to the Lower Esopus. By Craig Michaels vene meetings of stakeholders Despite the DEP’s modifica - and City officials in December tion of Ashokan release opera - Since 2001, Riverkeeper has been the primary watchdog over the and January to form the tions, the DEC nevertheless leaks in the Delaware Aqueduct, which supplies more than half of Ashokan Release Working announced that it intended to NewYork City’s daily drinking water. Over the past two years, Group, whose purpose is to bring an enforcement action we’ve taken an active role within local communities to help those develop recommendations for a against DEP for violating state affected by the leaks to take action. clear water release strategy to water quality standards, which This past November, the NewYork City Department of be applied to Ashokan require that suspended sedi - Environmental Protection (DEP) announced its plans to divert Reservoir operations. Also dur - ment not be discharged in water from the leaking aqueduct. Specifically, the City’s plan, ing this period, Ulster County amounts that cause a substan - designed to circumvent the worst of two leaks, is to build a three- Executive Mike Hein, respond - tial visible contrast to natural mile bypass tunnel around a portion of the aqueduct that is leak - ing to numerous citizen com - conditions (see photo). Acting ing in Roseton in Orange County, and repair other leaks in plaints, filed a notice of intent in good faith, the DEP agreed Wawarsing, in Ulster County, from the inside of the existing tun - to sue the DEP under the Clean to conduct a biological assess - nel.The construction of the bypass tunnel and the repair of the lin - Water Act for continuing dis - ment of the Lower Esopus to ing will ensure that DEP can continue to deliver high quality charges of turbid water into study the impacts of turbid drinking water every day for decades to come. the Lower Esopus. releases on fish and other Under the plan, which will cost $1.2 billion, DEP will break On January 28, Riverkeeper aquatic organisms, to take cor - ground on the bypass tunnel in 2013, and complete the connection and other members of the rective action to remediate any to the Delaware Aqueduct in 2019.The leaking portion of the aque - working group toured several environmental impacts caused duct would then be sealed and its use discontinued. sites along the Lower Esopus by the sustained turbid releases Although the DEP’s plan represents a big investment in solving from the mouth of the creek in and, at Riverkeeper’s urging, a big problem, the City should also move to compensate home - Saugerties upstream to agreed to consider compensat - owners affected by the leaks for damages suffered.There have Kingston, where we observed ing local residents for damages been serious consequences to people living in areas near the leak. clay-colored water in the open to agriculture and recreation In Roseton, the leaking aqueduct has created sinkholes on private areas between tracts of snow- arising from the releases. lots and adjacent to the Danskammer power plant. In Wawarsing covered ice. Later on the same As a member of the the aqueduct leak has caused the flooding of homes and contami - day, County Executive Hein Ashokan Release Working nated local drinking water wells from flooded septic fields.The hosted a meeting in Kingston Group, Riverkeeper will con - problem is so bad that DEP agreed to provide bottled water to res - with the DEP, the New York tinue to meet with the DEP idents, gave them sump pumps for their basements, and installed State Department of Environ- and stakeholders in the coming ultra-violet disinfection systems for their well water. mental Conservation (DEC), weeks to participate in the “It’s time for action for the people of this community,” said the Watershed Inspector General, development of the scope of Laura Smith, a long-time resident of Wawarsing. “I’m grateful for New York State Senator John J. issues DEP will address in its all that Riverkeeper has done here over the years and have a lot of Bonacic, a representative from biological assessment of the faith in what they stand for. What’s needed now is a real solution, U.S. Congressman Maurice Lower Esopus. While public a plan in place by the DEP to compensate the homeowners, to Hinchey’s office, and River- involvement, environmental help us move so we can have a life again.” keeper. At that meeting, DEP advocacy and the responsive - The residents of Wawarsing, together with DEP and other state Commissioner Cas Holloway ness of local decisionmakers and local officials, have formed the local Project Advisory announced that DEP had calcu - were the driving forces that Committee (PAC) to update community members on DEP’s leak lated that the Ashokan’s west averted a potential long-term investigation and to provide a forum to discuss ongoing issues basin had been drawn down ecological disaster, we are with the leaks. Riverkeeper is a member of the PAC and attends sufficiently to cease turbid encouraged to see that the scheduled meetings. We will continue to monitor and report on releases into the Lower Esopus New York City DEP has this issue and work with residents in affected communities to via the waste channel and for joined the fight to restore this ensure their voices are heard and until the consequences they are three consecutive days the DEP storied waterway. I suffering are made right. I would release clear water from the Ashokan’s east basin to 19.
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