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Albany, NY – A county executive in the Catskills says New York City is acting like an "occupying nation" in its upstate watershed, polluting waterways and flooding homes as it maintains the purity of its water supply. WAMC's Tristan O'Neill reports...
Ulster County Executive Michael Hein sent a letter Monday to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, inviting him to tour the county and see problems caused or worsened by the city's watershed agency, the Department of Environmental Protection.
Among those issues: polluted, muddy water in the lower Esopus Creek caused by diversion of water from a city reservoir; basements flooded by an ancient leaking aqueduct; and a shifting of the tax burden onto struggling communities.
A DEP spokesman replied that the watershed agency employs nearly 1,000 upstate people and contributes more than $130 million in taxes annually.
Tristan O'Neill, WAMC News.
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