​Westchester Receives Grant To Improve Water Quality

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Westchester County received a grant that will be used to help control pollution in Long Island Sound. The county's planning department partnered with the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission to apply for and receive a $100,000 grant to develop the department's 1997 plan “Controlling Non-point Source Pollution in Long Island Sound: A Management Plan for the Watersheds of Stephenson Brook, Burling Brook, Pine Brook and Larchmont Harbor.”

The commission, based in Lowell, MA, will assist the county in developing a watershed-based management plan for three Long Island Sound tributaries and an embayment. The $100,000 grant was from Long Island Sound Futures Fund and was matched by $25,000 from the Westchester County Soil and Water Conservation District, as well as $42,000 in in-kind services, largely staff time, from the planning department.

A consultant will be hired to update the original plan to meet the current nine-point criteria for watershed management plans adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

County Executive George Latimer said Westchester was blessed to adjoin Long Island Sound and all it has to offer recreationally, commercially and spiritually.

"It is our responsibility to ensure that its water quality and the fish and wildlife that depend on clean water are protected," he said. "It is important that this plan be brought up to date, focusing on improving water quality for the Sound and its tributaries."

Latimer said that, with these updates in place, the county will be able to obtain additional grants to help implement the plan in the future.

The municipalities in the targeted watershed or study area are New Rochelle, the town and village of Mamaroneck and the village of Larchmont. The plan is expected to be complete in late 2021, with outreach and public education programs, as well as construction of a pilot water quality improvement structure planned for 2022.

New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission represents the six New England states as well as New York.

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