Saugerties supervisor Fred Costello is encouraging Saugerties residents to contact the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) with comments on a plan for the Esopus Creek that would relieve Saugerties of the turbid muddy water that flows from New York City’s Ashokan Reservoir when water is released. The need for community participation in the survey at bit.ly/loweresopussurvey was discussed last Wednesday during the Saugerties Town Board meeting.
In a draft plan for the Esopus, Ulster County divides the river valley into 12 zones, each of which has different needs. While Saugerties residents face muddy runoff into the Esopus, towns further upriver are more concerned with flooding.
The discussion of the management plan was introduced by Mary McNamara, who has worked with many of the organizations protecting the Hudson Valley and the Esopus, such as the Hudson River Watershed Alliance, the Esopus Creek Conservancy, Ashokan Watershed Stream Management Program and the Lower Esopus Watershed Partnership.
She also stressed the need for citizens to become familiar with the working documents describing the proposed programs for the river and commenting on them. Funding is available for implementation of the plan and the management plan will, when completed, guide the improvements to the creek.
Interest in the lower Esopus Creek was sparked in 2009 and 2010 by the turbid water releases from New York City reservoirs on the Esopus Creek, McNamara said. “The releases were so detrimental that the DEC, the Ulster County executive and Riverkeeper stepped in. They demanded that New York City stop releasing those dirty, turbid waters. That was in late January of 2011.”
A consent order between the New York City DEP [Department of Environmental Protection] and the DEC was arrived at and out of that consent order an interim release protocol was arrived at while assessing what is detrimental and what is less detrimental. The discussions led to the draft environmental plan which is being considered.
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