Ossining-New Castle Water Agreement in Question

Ossining officials are not interested in a possible intermunicipal agreement floated recently by New Castle.

At issue is New Castle’s idea to create a Spring Valley Water district. Now, properties in that area, which includes the northwest corner of New Castle abutting Cortlandt, Ossining and Yorktown, are on well water.

The proposal drew fire from nearby resident Karen Wells, who mounted a petition campaign on change.org:

The proposed Spring Valley Water District will open a Pandora’s Box of development in the bucolic area known as Greater Teatown. Currently, the area is served by groundwater wells that encourage thoughtful land use policies and engages the community in protecting a wide range of natural resources.

Allowing municipal water in this area opens the door to high density development such as large sub-divisions and office parks. High density development in turn will have ecosystem impacts well beyond the borders of Greater Teatown. These impacts include run off that ultimately impact the Hudson River and the New York City watershed.

Ossining village officials released this statement:

The Village of Ossining has reviewed the Inter-Municipal Agreement recently proposed by the Town of New Castle at their public meeting which included the intended creation of a Spring Valley Water District to be fed by water provided by the Village of Ossining’s water system.

This is not in concert with the agreement and discussions in principal and in spirit that was reached in 2015 relating to an interconnection of water from New Castle to feed the Village of Ossining’s distribution system in exchange for state certified lab services to be provided to New Castle at the Village’s water filtration facility.

Other items contained in the proposed Inter-Municipal Agreement, and which were declared publicly at the Town of New Castle’s meeting, had not been reviewed or agreed to by the Village of Ossining. Our proposal is mutually beneficial to both parties and remains the same: The Village would purchase excess water at a fair price and will provide an agreed to number of state certified lab tests at its facility.