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Public Information Sessions on New York City’s Filtration Avoidance Determination for the Catskill/Delaware Drinking Water Supply

Release Date: 05/19/2006
Contact Information:

(NEW YORK, NY) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), together with the New York State Department of Health, will be holding a series of public information sessions regarding EPA’s Filtration Avoidance Determination (FAD) for the Catskill and Delaware Drinking Water Supplies. The public is encouraged to attend these informal information sessions and offer input that will assist EPA as it reviews the city’s accomplishments toward fulfilling the conditions of the November 2002 FAD.

“As we begin work on a revised filtration avoidance determination for the Catskill/Delaware water supply, EPA is looking for input from watershed stakeholders,” said Alan J. Steinberg, EPA Regional Administrator. “We encourage interested persons - residents, government representatives and water supply users - to participate and share their views about the watershed protection programs that the city and its partners are implementing.”

Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, all drinking water taken from surface water sources must be filtered to remove microbial contaminants. The law allowed EPA to waive this requirement for water suppliers if they could demonstrate that they had an effective watershed control program and that their water meets strict quality standards. In January 1993, EPA granted such a waiver, called a Filtration Avoidance Determination (FAD), to New York City for drinking water coming from the Catskill/Delaware watershed. The complete plan includes numerous provisions that define the city’s obligations to implement a comprehensive watershed control program to protect this water supply. The program also provide for septic system upgrade, agriculture programs, stream restoration and other benefits. The FAD has been revised, enhanced and updated, most recently in 2002. Prior to April 2007, EPA, in consultation with the New York State Department of Health, intends to make a further determination as to whether the City’s efforts at protecting its water supply meet the requirements for continuance of filtration avoidance. The first information session was held in Delhi, New York on May 17.

The upcoming information sessions are scheduled:

Thursday, May 25, 2006
4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Mount Kisco Library
100 E. Main Street
Mount Kisco, NY 10549
(914) 666-8041

Tuesday, June 6, 2006
4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Belleayre Mountain - Longhouse Lodge
Route 28
Highmount, NY 12441
(845) 254-5600, ext. 447

Wednesday, June 14, 2006
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
290 Broadway - 27th Floor, Room A
New York, NY 10007
(212) 637-3554

For more information on the sessions, please call (212) 637-3554.

To learn more about the Filtration Avoidance Determination, visit: https://www.epa.gov/region02/water/nycshed/filtad.htm

For more information on New York drinking water, visit: https://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo/ny.htm

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