Westchester Joint Water Works' Conetta Highlights Water Quality, Notes Current Concerns at Local Summit Breakfast

By Nina Recio Cuddy

The Local Summit of Larchmont/Mamaroneck dedicated its March Breakfast meeting to an informative discussion of the quality, cost and source of the water supply for our local community. Tony Conetta, Manager of the Westchester Joint Water Works (WJWW), led the presentation, accompanied by David Birdsall, WJWW Business Director, which took place at the Nautilus Diner on March 17.

Westchester Joint Water Works supplies the water needs for the Towns of Mamaroneck and Harrison, the Village of Mamaroneck, the Greenhaven section of Rye and approximately seventy homes in New Rochelle. It also sells water wholesale to the Village of Larchmont. In total, WJWW provides direct water service to 60,000 residents, comprising 15,000 accounts. The system includes 250 miles of water mains, 2,000 fire hydrants and several thousand valves.

Mr. Conetta explained to the audience that WJWW buys its water from New York City - - an arrangement arrived at years ago when New York City was constructing its water delivery system which passes through Westchester County. In fact, Westchester purchases about 10% of all New York City water.

The bulk of our water supply, approximately 90%, comes from the Catskills. The system, known as the Cat-Del system, is formed by the Catskill Water Shed on the eastern side and the Delaware System on the west. Water is delivered through underground aqueducts (the Catskill Aqueduct and Delaware Aqueduct) that were built over 125 years ago. The remaining 10% of our water is obtained from the Croton System, which collects water from northern Westchester and Rockland.

In his presentation, Conetta stressed the high quality and purity of our water supply. It requires no filtration, he said, although it is chlorinated. The water is also treated with a chemical to prevent leeching, as the water flows through the pipes that are made of lead and copper.

Our water is also cheap, noted Mr. Birdsall during his portion of the program. Birdsall said that it is probably the cheapest household commodity, costing, on average, $1.50 for a household of four persons, or between 35-50 cents a day per county resident. For that sum of money, a resident pays for all his water usage, including drinking, cooking, cleaning and other household uses. This amount also covers the cost of the system’s maintenance, salaries and capital improvements.

But the most important use of water in a community is fire protection, noted Conetta, who pointed out that even though fire protection is so vital, very little water is actually used for that purpose. To emphasize his point, Conetta reminded the audience that after Super Storm Sandy, the fires that erupted in Breezy Point (Queens) could not be put out since the hydrants were all under water.

Conetta emphasized that our water system requires maintenance, protection and conservation and stated that, in this regard, residents can play an important role. He noted that, as we approach the spring and summer season, water consumption will drastically increase. The culprit, in large part, is our obsession with green lawns and particularly with lawn irrigation systems. Responding to a comment by audience member and Larchmont Mayor Anne McAndrews concerning excessive watering, Conetta suggested that residents consider utilizing a rain gauge, even though currently there is no local law requiring the installation of such a gauge or moisture sensor.

Although there is no requirement for a rain gauge, Conetta did remind the audience that lawn irrigation systems are required by federal, state and local law to be equipped with a properly functioning back-flow valve. The back-flow valve is a device designed to prevent contamination of potable water by back siphoning or back pressure in the event of a leak in an underground irrigation system. Such a leak can result in the contamination of one’s own or a neighbor’s water from pesticides and fertilizing chemicals, and these leaks, typically, are not discovered until the homeowner receives a very high water bill.

Unfortunately, according to Conetta, many residents have not installed the required valve, which he believes may be attributable, in part, to the fact that there is no county or state requirement for licensing of irrigation system installers. Conetta encouraged audience members to contact WJWW for an application to install a back-flow valve and took the opportunity to advocate for legislation requiring irrigation system installers to secure licenses. (WJWW has posted a link on its website to an 8-minute video on back-flow devices.)

Conetta also encouraged audience members to view the video, “Give Me Green”, which addresses the price we really pay for our green lawns. He also recommended the video “Blue Gold”, produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Company, which provides a global perspective on our precious natural resource and the problems we all will confront because of its scarcity.

Conetta also explained that because our infrastructure is old, it requires regular maintenance, stating, “Roads have potholes. We have leaks.” Our pipes were first installed in 1927 and they are in varying states of repair. But to minimize the disruption to the community and to reduce or eliminate multiple street surface openings on the same roads, WJWW has been coordinating with the municipalities to examine, repair and replace pipes and valves when roadwork is being performed for other purposes.

There are large capital projects scheduled for our system in the next several years, the most significant being the construction of a by-pass tunnel for a section of the Delaware Aqueduct not far from Newburgh that has a significant leak under the Hudson River. The project should be completed within the next 7 – 8 years, but greater water conservation will be needed by the Westchester communities during the construction process since the aqueduct will be shut down, something that has never been done before.

Smaller improvements in service are also on the way, reported Conetta. WJWW is close to implementing Swift Reach, a mass notification system so residents can be informed of hydrant flushing and other actions. Also, WJWW is transitioning from manual meter reading to electronic. At this time, approximately 70% of meters are read remotely from vehicles while the remaining 30% require some form of manual reading. The next improvement would be to AMI, Advanced Metering Infrastructure, which would permit an instantaneous meter reading from a transmitter positioned on the house. This would allow homeowners to monitor their water consumption and give far earlier indications of leaks.

This breakfast forum was hosted by The Larchmont-Mamaroneck Local Summit, an informal community council that seeks to make life better for all in the tri-municipal area. Its monthly public meetings are held at the Nautilus Diner in Mamaroneck at 7:45 a.m. usually on the third Tuesday of the month. The next breakfast meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 21.