http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/08/24/kjwell24.htm
KJ well gets DEC go-ahead
By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
cmckenna@th-record.com
Kiryas Joel – This booming community has hit a gusher in its constant quest for water with a new well that will increase its supply by a third.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation last week gave Kiryas Joel permission to use the well and pump up to 486,000 gallons a day on average – more than the combined amount that the village draws from six nearby wells.
The approval is a major coup for Kiryas Joel, which has struggled for years to secure enough water for its growing population and has resorted to planning a $22 million pipeline to tap New York City's Catskill Aqueduct.
With the pipeline project tied up in court and construction of new condominiums continuing at a relentless pace in Kiryas Joel, the huge boost in water reserves will leave the village with an ample supply as the court fight plays out.
Once connected, the new well will increase the village's total daily supply to more than 1.9 million gallons – well above the peaks of up to 1.4 million gallons that the village sometimes uses, Kiryas Joel Administrator Gedalye Szegedin said.
Szegedin wouldn't speculate on how long Kiryas Joel's newly expanded water supply could meet its growing demand. He estimated the population of roughly 17,000 grows by 5 percent to 6 percent each year.
In an Aug. 17 letter to three groups that wrote comments on the proposed new well, Michael Merriman, a DEC regional permit administrator, dismissed concerns that it might take water from homes on Old Country Road in Monroe and from the Ramapo River, which feeds United Water wells in Rockland County.
He also brushed aside worries about handling the additional wastewater, saying the Harriman and Kiryas Joel sewage treatment plants have enough capacity to handle the water the well will produce.
Those same concerns are at the center of a pending lawsuit by Orange County challenging the environmental review Kiryas Joel conducted for its proposed 13-mile pipeline to the Catskill Aqueduct.
The county argues in its suit that the village failed to explain how it expects to treat the additional wastewater that the project will ultimately generate.
KJ well gets DEC go-ahead
By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
cmckenna@th-record.com
Kiryas Joel – This booming community has hit a gusher in its constant quest for water with a new well that will increase its supply by a third.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation last week gave Kiryas Joel permission to use the well and pump up to 486,000 gallons a day on average – more than the combined amount that the village draws from six nearby wells.
The approval is a major coup for Kiryas Joel, which has struggled for years to secure enough water for its growing population and has resorted to planning a $22 million pipeline to tap New York City's Catskill Aqueduct.
With the pipeline project tied up in court and construction of new condominiums continuing at a relentless pace in Kiryas Joel, the huge boost in water reserves will leave the village with an ample supply as the court fight plays out.
Once connected, the new well will increase the village's total daily supply to more than 1.9 million gallons – well above the peaks of up to 1.4 million gallons that the village sometimes uses, Kiryas Joel Administrator Gedalye Szegedin said.
Szegedin wouldn't speculate on how long Kiryas Joel's newly expanded water supply could meet its growing demand. He estimated the population of roughly 17,000 grows by 5 percent to 6 percent each year.
In an Aug. 17 letter to three groups that wrote comments on the proposed new well, Michael Merriman, a DEC regional permit administrator, dismissed concerns that it might take water from homes on Old Country Road in Monroe and from the Ramapo River, which feeds United Water wells in Rockland County.
He also brushed aside worries about handling the additional wastewater, saying the Harriman and Kiryas Joel sewage treatment plants have enough capacity to handle the water the well will produce.
Those same concerns are at the center of a pending lawsuit by Orange County challenging the environmental review Kiryas Joel conducted for its proposed 13-mile pipeline to the Catskill Aqueduct.
The county argues in its suit that the village failed to explain how it expects to treat the additional wastewater that the project will ultimately generate.