On a recent fall morning, elected officials, titans of industry and some concerned residents gathered at the little-known Hommocks Conservation area in the town of Mamaroneck to call upon New York state to extend its Clean Water grants program for crucial water infrastructure projects.
Also announced on Nov. 16 was the formation of a coalition, which includes elected officials, worker union officials, conservationists and members of the construction industry, to lobby for crucial water repairs, and how the high costs of such projects cannot be funded by individual communities alone, without state intervention. The projects are ways to ensure that wastewater is properly treated and managed to protect the environment for years to come.
On the wooden viewing platform of the conservation area, Mamaroneck Town Supervisor Nancy Seligson, a Democrat, said that the site could be affected by polluted runoff, especially after heavy rains and when sewer pipes aren’t repaired. “I worry about how to repair sewer infrastructure and how to pay for it,” she said. “The costs are too high for each municipality to do it on their own.”
One necessary clean water project that Seligson pointed to is the installation of ultraviolet light treatment to the town of Mamaroneck’s entire water system, a part of the Westchester Joint Water Works, which could cost $80 million. This does not include repairs to water mains which are a century old, according to Seligson.
Seligson added that the town has been working with the villages of Mamaroneck, Larchmont and Pelham Manor, and the city of New Rochelle; all part of New Rochelle’s sewer district.
Democratic state Assemblyman Steve Otis, also a former mayor of the city of Rye, was credited for recognizing and helping to initiate the Clean Water program at the state level in 2014, garnering support from Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, both Democrats. The program has now provided more than $400 million in grants toward municipal projects.
All who spoke at the conference praised Otis’ efforts.
“We have, statewide, over $70 billion in water infrastructure projects that need to be done,” Otis said. “Even with low-interest loans from the state, it’s too much debt [for municipalities].”
Seligson added that these clean water initiatives are crucial not just for drinking water and the environment, but also to provide jobs in the region; one reason why construction and union leaders are participating in the coalition.
Otis said that every $10 million granted creates 160 new jobs. “This is pure water, pure jobs; it’s good for property tax payers,” he added. “We need to grow this program and put more projects [in motion].”
New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson, a Democrat, said that many of the things needed to be done to protect the water quality in the Long Island Sound “are falling to our little old municipality.” He also pointed out that more needs to be done with investing in infrastructure.
“There’s this mismatch between the scale of the need and the importance of the priority, and the resources that are available to us,” he said. “Unless those two things are equalized, the financial condition of our municipality is going to suffer terribly, and eventually the quality of the Long Island Sound will suffer as well…. All of us will pay the price.”
