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High Falls, NY - Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today joined officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and the Towns of Rosendale and Marbletown to break ground for the newly created High Falls Water District. The District was created as part of the remediation plan for the Mohonk Road Industrial Plant Superfund Site. Over the past decade, Hinchey played a leading role in the cleanup of the site and the establishment of the water treatment and distribution plant.
"With the construction of this water district, the more than 400 residents who have had their wells contaminated by the Mohonk Road Industrial Plant will finally have access to safe and clean drinking water," Hinchey said. "I'm pleased that all of our work over the past decade to ensure that contaminants were removed from the neighborhood has gotten us to this day. It's taken awhile to get to this point, but today is a great day for the people of High Falls."
Construction of the treatment plant and the distribution system will take place in two phases. The first phase involves construction of the treatment plant and the connections to the Catskill Aqueduct (located at the siphon house on Canal Road), which is part of the New York City watershed system. Water mains will be constructed to carry the raw water from the siphon house approximately 1,200 feet to the treatment plant. The second phase will involve the construction of the distribution system from the treatment plant to approximately 224 homes and businesses. The estimated cost of both phases is approximately $18 million and will be funded by the EPA and DEC.
The Mohonk Road site was included on EPA's National Priorities List of hazardous waste sites in January of 1999. Later that year, the EPA began construction of a groundwater extraction and treatment system to immediately minimize the migration of the most highly contaminated portion of the groundwater plume. EPA completed the excavation and removal of nearly 500 cubic yards of contaminated soils from the property was completed in June 2001. Earlier this year, EPA completed design of the water supply system.
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