RBA, Local Unions, NAACP & Senator Larkin Endorse Desal Project

United Water announced Thursday that its proposed desalination plant received endorsements from the Rockland Business Association (RBA), Building & Construction Trades Council of Rockland County, New York State Senator Bill Larkin, the Construction Industry Council of the Hudson Valley, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Mid-Hudson Region and New York State Conference of NAACP Branches. 

According to United Water, the endorsements represent approximately 189,000 individuals from Rockland County and across the Hudson Valley who support the construction of the water project. 

The RBA and Rockland County Building and Construction Trades Council based their support on the expected economic benefits of the Hudson River Water Treatment Plant.

RBA President Al Samuels said “The Haverstraw Water Supply Project will play a big part in economic development and retaining business, particularly with the new Tappan Zee Bridge underway.”

“On behalf of the 21 trades and 83,000 members that make up the Rockland County Building and Construction Trades Council, I am proud to support this project,” said John Maraia, president. “It is critical for Rockland County, which needs a new long-term water supply to meet the growing need, to sustain the economic future, and to create jobs.”

Michael Pointing, vice president and general manager for United Water New York, said the proposed project could create up to 2,458 direct and indirect jobs in Rockland. He predicted it could deliver more than $70 million in new property tax assessments and real estate tax revenues of approximately $5 million by 2016. He said a completed project would generate in excess of $7 million in taxes annually for the Town of Haverstraw, North Rockland Central School District and county. Pointing added that the project would bring into Rockland an estimated $114 million in direct expenditures during and after its construction. 

Larkin, a Republican who represents part of northern Rockland County and Orange County, based his support on the need to improve the state’s infrastructure and anticipated growing demand. 

“This project is critical as we work to rebuild the state’s infrastructure,” he said. “Rockland needs more water now and that’s why almost 80 experts from the state and the county as well as from outside government have studied the problems and the solutions for over a decade. It is essential that this project be approved for Rockland’s future and for the future of its residents.” 

Ross Pepe, president of the Construction Industry Council of the Hudson Valley, said

“We hear the same issues from coast to coast: the state of our nation’s infrastructure is poor and something must be done.”

Regional NAACP director Wilbur Aldridge said United Water worked with the community through the process. 

“My colleagues and I had an opportunity to meet with United Water experts who walked us through the pilot facility and explained the purification system, which is the gold standard of the water industry,” said Aldrich. “This has been a truly transparent process.”

Pointing said the broad-based support was key.

“This kind of support shows just how important this project is,” said Pointing. 

The Haverstraw Water Supply Project will use reverse osmosis, “the gold standard” in water purification technology used across the country and around the world. United Water said nearly 10,000 samples taken from its Haverstraw Pilot Facility showed the water meets or surpasses EPA standards, even during severe storms and turbulent river conditions.

The New York State Public Service Commission ordered United Water to have a new, long-term water supply online by the end of 2015. United Water’s water industry experts researched more than a dozen projects and selected three options including the Haverstraw project, building the Ambrey Reservoir and wastewater reuse. United Water determined the desalination plant “is the best solution to provide a reliable, sustainable and purified source of drinking water because it is the least costly to consumers, the most environmentally sensitive and the most drought-tolerant option.”

Earlier this week county officials announced they had met with state officials to discuss the need for an issues conference on the proposed desalination plant.