Mamaroneck Town Board To Hold Hearing On $22M Water Bond

MAMARONECK, NY — Money for improvements for the Westchester Joint Water Works will be the subject of a public hearing July 19 by the Mamaroneck Town Board, the big-ticket item being a $22 million contribution to the Rye Lake Filtration Plant project.

The NYS Department of Health and EPA had each ordered the WJWW, the agency that supplies drinking water to Sound Shore municipalities including Mamaroneck, Harrison, New Rochelle, Rye, Port Chester and Rye Brook, to provide filtration for the water source at Rye Lake in order to comply with surface water treatment rules and control potentially harmful levels of disinfection by-products, including haloacetic acids, or HAA5.

SEE: Desperately Needed Drinking Water Filtration Plant Clears Hurdle

The filtration plant has been on the drawing board since the early nineties, but permitting issues and a debate over which jurisdiction would be the lead agency on the massive public works project stymied the start of construction.

The hearing at the Town Center is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. The topic: increase and improvement of the facilities of Water District No. 1, consisting of the Town’s maximum estimated cost of $22,552,700 as its share of the cost of the following projects and expenses of the Westchester Joint Water Works:

• the Rye Lake turbidity curtain ($168,200)
• Country Lane water main replacement ($252,500)
• improvements to the Rye Lake Filtration Plant ($22,132,000), in each case including incidental improvements, equipment and expenses