If all goes well, visitors to the athletic fields near the Ulster County Fairgrounds on Libertyville Road in New Paltz will be able to drink water they didn’t bring themselves and be able to flush a toilet rather than using a port-a-potty while they’re watching or participating in some sporting event or another. There’s a health permit approved to install the water system and board members agreed to apply for another to clear the way for a septic system. The park will be getting more use now that there are soccer fields ready to go, and members of the soccer association received approval at this same meeting to build a storage shed for that group’s equipment.
The Community Center, too, will be getting a water fountain. In this case, the plumbing is already in place. A bottled-water service was discontinued last year when the building was shut down for the pandemic, and the only way not to resume that is to have another way to provide water to users. Supervisor Neil Bettez expressed puzzlement that bottled water was being trucked in despite there being potable water coming out of the taps.