Westchester County NY Government

County Executive Robert P. Astorino joined Somers Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy, Bedford Supervisor Lee Roberts, other northern Westchester supervisors, and County Legislator Peter Harckham (D Katonah), at a press conference Monday, Aug. 23 to detail a cooperative effort dealing with the watershed protection in the Croton and Kensico watersheds.

The press conference at the corner of Maple Ave. and Reservoir Road in Katonah focused on the regional, cooperative effort to achieve the goals set forth in the New York City Memorandum of Agreement for watershed protection entered into in 1997. 

The Northern Westchester Watershed Committee, chaired by Murphy, has been working for the past several months on a joint plan to use $10 million from the East of Hudson Fund established by New York City to pay for several projects to bring the 12-member communities into compliance with protective measures mandated for the New York City watershed under their stormwater permits.

A preliminary agreement has now been reached for Westchester County to work cooperatively with the municipalities to create a database of septic systems in the watershed; centralize the regional stormwater retrofit projects though one administrative process; and map stormwater conveyance systems to comply with new storm water regulations and improve the monitoring of septic systems.

“Protecting our watershed requires the vision to understand what needs to be done and the practical common sense to get things done,” said Astorino. “The Northern Westchester Watershed Committee, under the leadership of Somers, has done both. Working with the county, the committee is taking important steps to protect our drinking water by keeping our reservoirs free of storm water, drainage runoff and contaminants. A much more streamlined process is now in place for coordinating and completing projects and taking advantage of county resources, such as its IT capabilities, which can be shared broadly.”

The funds will be used for three programs that will assist the municipalities in meeting their MS4 Stormwater Phase II permit requirements. The majority of the funding will be used to implement storm water retrofit projects throughout the Croton watershed, such as construction of stormwater detention basins and roadside swales, to meet the requirements for the reduction of phosphorus being discharged into the reservoir system, which will result in improved water quality.                             

Additionally, the agreement will provide funds for mapping stormwater conveyance systems throughout the watershed in a consistent manner that conforms to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation standards and creates a shared database to be hosted by the county. Funds will also be used to complete a database of septic systems throughout the watershed that can be used by the municipalities to meet their permit requirements to implement a septic inspection program. 

Murphy said of the effort, “It has been very rewarding working collaboratively with the Northern Westchester watershed towns to solve our individual MS4 permit mandates collectively with New York City funds. These three projects – stormwater retrofits, septic inspection and stormwater conveyance mapping –are exactly what the NYCEOH funds were intended to be spent on. On behalf of my watershed colleagues we are very grateful to County Executive Astorino for his vision and support of this regional approach to compliance, which will save taxpayers money.”

Roberts said, “Mary Beth has demonstrated remarkable leadership in fostering cooperation among these eight communities to resolve a complicated issue.”

Westchester County Legislator Harckham, chairman of the Committee on Environment & Energy and founding chairman of the Subcommittee on Septics, which negotiated the regional MS4 septic program with the municipalities and the state DEC, said, “This process was a model collaboration between the county, municipalities and the state and is an example of how regional, intermunicipal cooperation and shared services can save taxpayers and municipalities money when we all work together.”

Harckham added that he expected no difficulty in moving the package through the Legislature. “We have a good track record of bipartisanship when it comes to protecting our drinking water in Westchester,” he said.