Should Public Utility Manage Rockland's Water: Activists Ask NY

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — Water watchdogs in Rockland County are floating a controversial possibility now that an international company has proposed a merger that affects SUEZ Water NY, which runs Rockland County's largest water supply.

They want the New York State Public Service Department to conduct a study to determine which would better serve the public interest: continuing to allow private management of Rockland’s water or municipalizing it, so a local public authority manages the county’s water. The state's Public Service Commission will hold a hearing Wednesday on the merger.

“Every added level of ownership of our water resources by a non-Rockland entity results in less interest and less flexibility on the part of that entity in planning for or reacting to local needs,” said Terri Thal, a member of the Rockland Water Study Committee and the Rockland Water Coalition. "When decision-makers about local water use are based in another country, and when their major goal is making a profit for the entity's shareholders, Rockland's water users are way down on their list of concerns."

The acquisition of SUEZ by Veolia Environnement S.A., another French multinational company, would include the subsidiary that manages Rockland County’s water, SUEZ Water NY — unless it is rejected by the state Public Service Commission, which regulates utility mergers in New York. The PSC will hold a virtual public hearing Wednesday to gather input on the request.

"We have filed for approval of the Veolia-SUEZ transaction with the New York State Public Service Commission and the proceeding is ongoing," Bill Madden, Director of New York Communications/Government Affairs for SUEZ, told Patch. "The proposed transaction is in the best interest of our customers as reflected in the joint petition filed with the Commission. We anticipate final approval by the end of the year and look forward to closing the transaction."

The Rockland Water Study Committee, comprised of members of the Rockland Water Coalition, and other environmental groups and concerned citizens aren't so sure.

"The profits Suez Water NY pays to its shareholders represent about 25 percent of a customer’s water bill,” said Robert Tompkins, a member of the Rockland Water Study Committee. “This is an expense for the consumer, and it’s money that is not spent in the County.”

This is just the latest water-supply issue for Rockland. Most of its drinking water supply comes from the rain and snow that fills its aquifers and the Lake Deforest reservoir. The supply has been challenged during times of drought and hot summer months, when water demand can come close to outpacing supply.

Plus, the Comprehensive Water Conservation and Implementation Plan forecasts Rockland's population to increase to more than 409,000 by 2050.

Since residents and county leaders fought off the company's plan to construct a desalination plant on the Hudson River to increase water supply, the county has been pursuing conservation as a long-term strategy. The desalination plant — a controversial idea that dominated Rockland's imagination for years — was based on projections that the county's water demand would have surpassed supply by 2015.

The PSC nixed it in 2014, but the commissioners and staff pointed out that the need could arise again in the near future, and that it was crucial that the community, the company and the PSC explore and adopt all reasonable actions to defer the need for new supply plus explore opportunities for alternative sources before 2020.

In the past decade, Rocklanders have explored and debated ways to conserve water so that they will not need new sources. The Rockland County Task Force on Water Resources Management, formed in 2014, presented a conservation plan in 2020.

According to the NYS Department of Public Service, 96 percent of New Yorkers have municipal water service. Two new public water authorities have just been established in Nassau County, re-municipalizing water systems previously owned and operated by the private, for-profit company New York American Water. The new authorities were created in the wake of the Nov. 2 election, in which voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional right to water in New York State. Prior to the enacting the legislation creating new Nassau water authorities, the NYS Department of Public Service conducted a feasibility study. SEE: State Finds Public Takeover Of NYAW Would Lower Rates

A petition signed by more than 1,000 Rockland residents asks Governor Hochul and other elected officials to authorize a similar feasibility study for Rockland County, to determine whether it would be better for Rockland to establish a public authority and municipalize its water as Nassau did, or whether the PSC should approve the sale of SWNY and allow Veolia to manage the county’s water. The petition links to a white paper detailing and documenting the reasons why such a study is needed. The petition and the paper were prepared by the Rockland Water Study Committee.

A study is especially warranted in Rockland’s case, advocates say, in view of what they call Veolia’s problematic track record. The company operates more than 8,500 water and wastewater facilities and systems around the world including in Canada and the United States. The magazine Mother Jones wrote a scathing expose in 2016.

The industry has stepped in to oppose a study. In a recent oped in The Journal News, Robert Powelson, president and CEO of the National Association of Water Companies defended SUEZ Water NY’s record and the model of having “water professionals in charge of water systems,” and said the feasibility study proposal was “pushing for a government takeover.”

County Executive Ed Day has asked the state to study the municipalization idea, though he sees many pitfalls.

"I have specific concerns about this possibility related to the impact on municipal and school property tax bills, the cost of future infrastructure improvements including the cost of meeting PFOA/PFOS drinking water standards and the total cost of purchasing Suez Water NY assets," he wrote on Patch in October.

To participate in the PSC's virtual public hearing at 6 p.m. Wednesday on the Veolia merger (PSC Case 21-W-0338) you must pre-register electronically or by telephone by 3 p.m. Tuesday. Find how to comment and pre-register here.

You can watch or listen without registering. The hearing will be livestreamed on the internet and available for viewing on the Department of Public Service’s YouTube channel starting at 6 p.m. To access the YouTube channel, visit the Department’s website, www.dps.ny.gov, and click on the YouTube icon at the bottom of the homepage.

You can also send comments about this case to the PSC. The deadline is Dec. 3.

SEE ALSO: Rockland Residents Urge NY To More Cleanup Of 'Forever Chemicals' In Drinking Water