The Rockland Water Coalition is hosting a public information forum about United Water’s proposed Haverstraw Water Supply Project on Thursday, Feb. 23 from 7 to 10 p.m. at Clarkstown Town Hall. The state Department of Environmental Conservation accepted United Water’s 4,000 page Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on January 18. The proposed desalination plant would draw water from the Hudson River daily and treat it for use as drinking water in Rockland County.
Riverkeeper, which supports the Rockland Water Coalition, released the information about the “Get the Facts Water Conference” on Wednesday. According to Riverkeeper, experts will discuss various aspects of the project in terms of the environment, cost and health.
Riverkeeper’s web site stated, “The plant would draw up to 10 million gallons per day of water from Haverstraw Bay, a spawning area and nursery for fish throughout the Hudson River Estuary and the Atlantic Coast, including the Atlantic sturgeon, which has recently been listed as an endangered species. It would discharge up to 92,000 gallons per day of wastewater.”
Riverkeeper characterized desalination as an expensive and energy intensive process. The water treatment plant would recycle water from the Hudson River and put it through United Water’s nine-step process. Desalination is a procedure that removes salt, organic compounds and more. Another issue noted by Riverkeeper was the location of the proposed plant’s water intakes would be less than four miles from the Indian Point nuclear power plant.
The Department of Environmental Conservation is hosting one day of public hearings on the DEIS on March 6 at Haverstraw Town Hall in Garnerville at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. The deadline for public comment submissions to the Department of Environmental Conservation is April 20.
United Water has stated Rockland County’s water sources are not sufficient to keep pace with its growing population.
