A report released jointly by the Natural Resources Defense Council and FCWC claims that adequate steps to protect New York City’s most critical reservoirs are not being taken by city or state officials. Highlights relevant to Westchester County follow.

Ill-planned corporate development, sprawling residential subdivisions, expanded roadways and other impervious surfaces close to reservoirs and their tributaries pose long term threats to the region’s water supply. More than 20 major projects have recently been completed or are now in the pipeline in the Kensico and West Branch watersheds. This kind of development is the greatest single threat to filtration avoidance in the immediate future of the Catskill and Delaware systems (the upstate sources that supply Kensico and West Branch).

A major finding of this report is that government officials at all levels are not doing what is necessary to protect these two watersheds. To be sure, many staff-level employees of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are working hard, under difficult conditions, to protect the upstate watersheds. The city is also advancing plans for best management practices to control pollution already in these watersheds, and some critical lands in the West Branch have recently been purchased.

But the focus of government decision-makers seems to be on containing pollution after it has been created, instead of aggressively seeking to prevent pollution in these two small, irreplaceable basins.

On the whole, a high-intensity effort, involving city, state, and county officials, to rescue these vulnerable watersheds has not yet been launched. In one glaring example, not a single acre of land in the all-important Kensico Reservoir watershed has been purchased by the city, according to the most recent filtration avoidance report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Kensico Reservoir in central Westchester consists of a western main basin and an eastern Rye Lake portion, with water flowing freely between the two. Although it was formed by damming the Bronx River in 1915, most of its water comes from two huge aqueducts that transport water from New York City’s six West-of-Hudson reservoirs. The Kensico, with the capacity of 30.6 billion gallons, is surrounded by its own comparatively small watershed of approximately ten square miles. Waters flowing into the reservoir from these surrounding lands are responsible for most of the pollution threats facing Kensico today.

Kensico’s watershed is only a total of about 6,000 acres straddling the towns of Harrison, Mount Pleasant, North Castle, New Castle, and Greenwich, CT. It has experienced accelerated commercial and residential growth in recent years. With about 1,950 dwellings and 5,500 residents, Kensico is already the most densely popoulated watershed in the Cat/Del system. According to 1997 city data, land use in the Kensico watershed is approximately 30% residential and 20% industrial or commercial.

In the last decade, several hundred acres of open land in the small Kensico watershed have been lost to developers. In total, over a dozen significant commercial and residential projects have been completed or are now advancing. Among the largest projects, as of November, 1998, were the following:

Additional housing, corporate, and Westchester County Airport proposals put pressure on the state to expand Route 120 which is adjacent to the reservoir. A NYS Department of Transportation (DOT) 1997 project shows widening a 1.2 mile stretch of Route 120 from a hilly, winding two lane country road to a four lane roadway. It would also expand a stretch of Route 22 from four to five lanes (with two paved shoulders and median) in a location where the road is as close as 20 feet from the reservoir. It will convert acres of green lands to impervious surfaces and increase stormwater runoff in one of the most sensitive watershed areas. Moreover, it will encourage additional auto travel along the edge of the reservoir and lead to ancillary development in the watershed, attracting additional pollution sources.

Only after several elected officials from Westchester and New York City joined environmentalists in objecting, was this project placed on temporary hold by the state DOT. But with modifications to capture some highway runoff, this roadway expansion project is expected to regain momentum in 1999. In fact, New York City is apparently cooperating by providing the use of watershed land to facilitate this project. Unless the city reverses course and opposes the Route 22 expansion, or the DOT is over-ruled by the Governor in his role as protector of the integrity of the watershed, blacktop and concrete for this extraordinarily shortsighted project will be poured in the near future.

Indeed, development pressures in the Kensico’s fragile watershed are likely to continue well into the next decade. DEP has projected significant new development between now and 2010 on large tracts of undeveloped land. In 1995, this growth was projected to add more than 422 houses, dramatically increasing the number of residential units by 22%. Office use was expected to jump by as much as 33%. A more recent draft report estimated that 847,000 sq.ft. of office/commercial development could easily occur in the corridor under current zoning.

Specific pollution threats to Kensico’s water quality include fecal coliform bacteria associated with septic system failures; increased turbidity caused by development and stormwater runoff; phosphorus and other nutrients that can lead to excessive algae growth. Recently, pesticides and other organic chemicals in small amounts have been detected in tributaries.

It must be said that New York City has taken a number of steps to alleviate certain problems. These include implementing waterfowl control measures; stemming pollution from the heavily developed Malcolm Brook; creating a plan to install stormwater BMPs (best management practices); and designating land acquisition in the critical Kensico watershed as a high priority.

To achieve real watershed protection, Kensico land acquisition efforts must be pressed. Moreover, the construction of BMPs is behind schedule, and even when implemented, they would only lessen, not remove, the impacts of development. State support to control pesticide runoff has not been forthcoming.

Regarding the DOT’s expansion plans for Route 120, Governor Pataki has not yet become personally involved in refocusing state road building projects to less sensitive locations. Among recommendations listed in the report is that the state should cease using public funds for roadway expansion or corporate subsidies that facilitate Kensico (or West Branch) watershed development.

Finally, there is a fundamental flaw in the approach now being taken by the city and state to protect the Kensico watershed. With limited exceptions, the activities that New York officials are undertaking are designed to accommodate growth and to minimize the impacts of new pollution that new growth generates.

Rather than recognize the irreplaceable resources involved and strive to protect and even restore this watershed, existing programs accept as a given that continued development of this small watershed is inevitable and that the best that can be done is to mitigate the harm. Whatever wisdom that philosophy may have as a general approach to environmental problem-solving, it does not make sense when the resource in question is the terminal reservoir for the unfiltered drinking water supply of nine million New Yorkers.

To obtain a complete copy of the report, Under Attack: New York’s Kensico and West Branch Reservoirs confront intensified development, contact the Publications Department, NRDC, 40 West 20th St., New York, NY 10011, 212-727-2700.

Those concerned with preserving Westchester’s unique natural resources and quality of life are
largely pleased with the Spano administration after its first year. There seems to be a willingness to change past practices and seriously consider the environmental impacts of county government activities.

From watershed protection and land use planning to preservation of open space and maintaining existing preserves, the county should serve as a model for its 43 municipalities, the region, and the nation.

County government actions include:

•  Reorganizing to improve adherence to environmentally sound principles.

•   Adding an oversight staff person to the Department of Environmental Facilities; a Deputy Commissioner and a Board member with conservation interests to Parks; and watershed personnel to Planning.

•  More carefully monitoring airport activities today than in the past. Turning back the Executive Lounge proposal appears to show a commitment to no further expansion.

•  Giving greater attention to Long Island Sound remediation with implementation of the Inflow and Infiltration sewer program.

•  Commiting to spend $5 million per year for five years on open space aquisitions (which we urge the Board of Legislators to approve) and negotiating for land near Croton Gorge Park and other sites.

•  Beginning a dialog among environmentalists and developers that should prove useful.

We hope that the dialog will continue and that environmental quality issues will be high on the agenda of the County Executive in the future, particularly when he meets with the Council of Governments.

All the county’s clout should be employed when it comes to its control over area infrastructure, open space preservation, federal and state pass-through monies, and other means at its disposal. It should strive to implement its planning document, Patterns for Westchester and its Open Space Policies. Every effort should be made to arrive at sound, regional land use, transportation, and open space preservation decisions.

We hope these initiatives will promote environmental policies that are followed at the highest levels but we remain concerned about the following:

•  Adequate compensation for recent loss of parkland and improved county safeguards

•  Curtailment of highway expansion

•  Land use planning that emphasizes transportation

•  Improvement of mass transit

•  Acceleration of Croton watershed planning and filtration avoidance

•  Preservation of Westchester’s historic parks system with increased curatorial and maintenance staff. We were pleased to note the designation of important bird areas in county parks.

After a friend’s wedding at the foot of Mount Hood, my tour of the region took me from Welches, Oregon, one of the wettest places in the continental United States around the big, snowy mountain, to the incomparable Columbia River Gorge, past Bonneville Dam to the awesome Pacific coast.

One cannot drive in Oregon without noticing treecutting, logging trucks, and lumber mills. It is a long and difficult task to curtail clearcutting and the environmental harm it does in a state where this was the main industry. Although Oregon is seeking to limit lumbering, offer job retraining, and take other measures to stem the destruction of forests and waterbodies, a major battle is still being waged against lumbering on public lands supported by public monies.

The Oregon coast was once thick with temperate rainforests, most of which have been logged. One advocate, Jim Britell has said (Audubon, May-June, 1998): "Our [national] forest problems are more serious than [Congressional] riders, overlogging or overgrazing. Those are mere distractions from the radical right’s real goal which is nothing less than a vast transfer of public lands to private hands."

The imposing Bonneville Lock and Dam straddles the mighty Columbia River between Washington and Oregon. Completed in 1937 for $88.4 million, this massive structure today includes two powerhouses that generate one million megawatts. Many dollars were also spent on a fish hatchery and to build ladders for anadromous fish heading back upstream to spawn.

It was interesting to learn that years after leaving, Bonneville-hatched fish return from the sea to this hatchery. Also, species diversity is necessarily lost when fish are artificially hatched. Some of the more than 100 dams in the Columbia River watershed that inhibit migration, just as the Bonneville Dam does, may be removed.

A rare, sunny Oregon day encouraged me to travel to the rugged coast rather than back to Portland to ride the renown lightrail. Sea lion caves, jagged cliffs, and miles of dunes were impressive.

In one location I watched ATV riders plying the dune slopes. The public demands places for this kind of active recreation. But it must be limited in fragile ecosystems, otherwise it can be very destructive.

Beaches in nearby Washington State suffer from uncontrolled vehicle use which is severely affecting shorebirds.

Many states have banned beach driving and thereby actually increased tourism. California even has shorebird festivals.

Should be no surprise. Mall shopping is down across the country while malls are still being built. The retail space available tody far exceeds the ability of shoppers to buy. Hence, there are more dead malls in our future. Internet shoping will contribute to the decline.

Another commercial note: Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have slowed up on investing in unwanted condos, shopping centers, resorts and office parks on the fringes and begun to look at (Can you believe it?) Main Streets! The reason seems to be that they like the infrastructure and support systems that are already in place and the fact they don’t have to deal with pesky environmental regulations about wetlands. Well, well.

Speaking of Main Street, the most recent office occupancy rate in Westchester County reveals some rather curious trends. For a few months it drifted down, but now it is creeping back up to 16% for the entire county. But in White Plains, the county seat and center of all transit services, the vacancy rate is 30%! Not only that, the vacancy rate in the northern county, the watershed, that is, is only 6.4%! This will, of course, encourage yet more destructive development in the least transit-served part of the county. Isn’t there a carrot that could entice businesses into the heart of the community first where a car might not be an absolute necessity?

The carrots were missing when SwissRe decided to move up to the edge of the Kensico Reservoir. Now we are arguing over whether to widen Route 120 to accommodate the expected traffic jam. On top of that, shuttles are being considered that would use scarce transit dollars for Fortune 500 companies instead of underused, but vital, routes in the lower county. Is this planned development?

On the same theme, IBM in Somers (now AT&T) wants 500 more parking spaces to accommodate their expansion. Again, this is in the watershed. Whatever happened to watershed protection?

Speaking of the heart of the community, the attendance at the fourth annual RailVolution Conference rose 35% this year to a total of 1090 attendees from 38 states (only one from the great state of New York). It was held in Portland, Oregon, arguably the most livable city in the country. What makes it the most livable? The walkable downtown, the excellent transit, bus and light rail perfectly interwoven.

This is a city that has its priorities right. A planned multi-level parking structure in the center of the city was scrapped and a people’s park installed with performance space, terraced seating and all the amenities, including a unit for handwashing. It is well used every day of the week. Gracious living in the west. Why not in the east?

Should a golf course be considered open space? According to the Journal News (January 9, 1999) golf courses accounted for basically the only open space that was added to all sections of the county from 1988 to 1996. But how much land was lost to development in that same time period? 14,000 acres! 11,623 were lost in the north county watershed area. That leaves a paltry 26% of undeveloped land in the watershed, not counting the 19% of designated open space. Are we waiting for it to be completely developed before getting serious about protection?

When the funds are raised, the Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation & Conservation will complete the reconstruction and restoration. The Conservancy hopes to complete the $50,000 campaign in time for the bridge to be rebuilt for the 75th Anniversary celebration of the Bronx River Parkway Reservation in the year 2000.

Donations in any amount are appreciated. The names of those who contribute $1,000 or more will be inscribed on a permanent bronze commemorative plaque at the site. Contributions are tax deductible and should be sent to: Garth Woods Conservancy on the Bronx River Parkway, Inc., 97 Montgomery Street, Scarsdale, NY 10583. For further information, call Robert Borg, Chairman, at 914-725-4600.