Delaware Aqueduct closure info meeting scheduled
May 14—The New York City Department of Environmental Protection is scheduled to close the Delaware Aqueduct in October to connect it with a new tunnel under the Hudson River.
There will be a public information meeting in Hancock from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday, May 21, about the upcoming closure, a media release said. The meeting will be held in person at the Friends of the Upper Delaware River office at 158 East Front Street in Hancock or on Zoom.
Jeff Skelding, president of FUDR, said in an email he "specifically asked NYC to focus on potential impacts locally here in the Deposit/Hancock area. I also provided her with a list of questions I solicited from multiple (upper Delaware River) watershed stakeholders. So I am hopeful that there will be a far more substantive conversation about the local impacts that are most important to us here in the Upper Delaware."
According to the release, some of the questions asked were:
Will there be an impact on water releases?
When will the pre-construction drawdown of the reservoirs begin?
What is the target level for reservoir storage volume on October 1?
How can local communities be assured that flood risks are minimized?
What are the "go-no go" considerations for launching or postponing the project?
How will the reservoirs be managed in the spring of 2025 when the project is coming to a close?
The department was going to close the aqueduct last October, but announced last June it had to delay the closure for another year due to safety concerns.
The 85-mile-long Delaware Aqueduct begins at the Rondout Reservoir in Ulster County and ends north of New York City in the Hillview Reservoir in Yonkers. Water from the Pepacton and Cannonsville reservoirs in Delaware County and Neversink Reservoir in Sullivan County flow through tunnels to the Roundout Reservoir.
The aqueduct delivers about half of New York City's water supply — about 600 million gallons a day — using only gravity.
To register for Tuesday's meeting, visit, https://tinyurl.com/5n9yt43b. For more information email info@fudr.org.
