Assemblymember Chris Tague, whose 102nd Assembly District includes all of Greene and Schoharie counties and parts of Albany, Delaware, Otsego, and Ulster counties, said he had not realized the extent of the funding available through the Catskill Watershed Corporation until he attended the group’s annual meeting this week.
“Until today I didn’t know the scope of the availability of these grants and these resources,” he said at the gathering in Arkville. “I’m going to ask some of the town supervisors in my district in Greene County and Delaware County, ‘Are you taking full advantage of what’s available here?’”
Last year, the nonprofit charged with protecting the New York City watershed and investing in surrounding communities awarded more than $17 million in grants and made more than $8.5 million in loans to watershed businesses to support economic development. It also administered millions of dollars in New York City funding for major infrastructure projects undertaken by local governments across the Catskills.
The corporation presented the figures Tuesday during a gathering also attended by Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, representatives from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and municipal officials from communities across the 41 towns and eight villages within the five-county watershed.
Delaware County received about 52% of the grants and loans allocated through the corporation’s Catskill Fund for the Future, which supports economic development. Ulster County received 21%, Greene County 19%, and Schoharie and Sullivan counties 4% each, according to the corporation.
Created under a 1997 agreement between New York City and Catskills communities after proposed watershed regulations strained relations between them, the corporation has a dual purpose: protecting the watershed and supporting economic development in the communities around it.
The corporation administers funding from the city for programs including septic replacement, stormwater management, and flood-hazard mitigation.
“Sustainable communities are essential to long-term watershed protection,” said Jason Merwin, the group’s executive director. “If we want healthy streams, healthy forests, and high-quality drinking water, we must also have healthy towns, healthy businesses, and healthy local economies.”
In Olive, the corporation is administering a block grant from the department to fund the Shokan Wastewater Management Program. The project will create a community wastewater system serving more than 500 potential sewer connections through approximately 70,000 linear feet of sewer infrastructure. The system will be able to handle 166,000 gallons of wastewater a day.
The project will also decommission the wastewater treatment plant in Boiceville and convert it into a pump station that will send wastewater 4 miles to a new treatment facility in Shokan, said John Mathiesen, the corporation’s program manager for community wastewater.
“Construction is well underway right now,” he said. “This is the largest one that we’ve done.”
The meeting highlighted stormwater management projects in Olive and Tannersville that aim to protect water quality by reducing polluted runoff entering streams.
The corporation also provided a bridge loan for the restoration and conversion of Pine Hill’s Wellington Hotel into 10 affordable housing units and ground-floor commercial space that could house a cafe or food market.
In Shandaken, the corporation funded the replacement of 34 septic systems, the most in any watershed town.
Kyle Bredberg is an intern and contributing reporter. You can reach him at kyle@theoverlooknews.com.
